Beth Dixon
by Dollyrocker85
Summary: Beth, Judith and Daryl get separated from the group and find themselves becoming part of a ramshackle community based in an old abandoned hotel called Maycroft. Beth comes up with the rouse of pretending to be a married couple in order to ensure that Judith is allowed to stay with them and not to draw attention to themselves. Unashamedly fluffy Bethyl fic.
1. Chapter 1

Ok guys! This is a Bethyl fic all the way, if that isn't your thing I would retreat now. It's set after season 3, it differs from the TV show in the way that in this story the group have had to flee the prison and have gotten separated in doing so. The story will have bits of fluff and possibly smut...who am I kidding there's definitely going to be smut! This is totally unbeta'd unfortunately. I have checked and checked again but I sincerely apologise if there are any typos. Thanks for reading!

**Welcome to Maycroft.**

An evening breeze blew though what was once a hotel lobby and Beth instinctively pulled Judith closer in an attempt to shield her from the cold, but the child's forehead still felt worryingly hot to the touch.

They had been on the road for three whole days since losing the rest of the group, and once the euphoria of once again finding that they had gotten out of an unimaginably tight spot had worn off, reality had hit them hard.

Beth had been caught in the chaos with Judith in her arms, the others had fled ahead of them, perhaps Maggie and Glen assumed that Beth and Judith had left with Rick, Carl and Hershel, and vise versa. Either way when the Governor's lackeys had attacked the prison they'd had no choice but to scatter, Beth had thought her number was finally up, surrounded by walkers somehow the little bundle in her arms gave her courage she never knew she possessed. She stabbed walker after walker in the skull making her way towards the SUV, Daryl had seen her approach and driven nearer, opening the doors only at the very last minute for her to climb aboard.

They'd driven as far as they could with the intentions of meeting back up with the group further north but a massive wildfire had caused them to divert. With gas and food supplies running low they had no options but to look for shelter. They had sought out the old hotel only thinking of it as somewhere to raid for supplies but when they got inside it was clear there was some kind of infrastructure there, they were met at the entrance desk by a middle aged mixed race lady who introduced herself as Jeanette.

"My word look at you three!" she had exclaimed upon sight of them,"I'm guessing you guys got diverted from the interstate? From the wildfires right?" she said knowingly, as though others had arrived there the same way.

"Yeah, we were meaning to regroup with our friends and family further north but we got cut off from them by the fires, we have an SUV but we're pretty much outta gas. And I'm not sure but I think maybe Judith here's running a bit of a fever. We were wondering if maybe we could trouble you for some gas, maybe some food, I'm sorry to ask..." Beth explained nervously.

Jeanette cut her off as though she understood their predicament, "Oh we can do better than that honey, we've been working to keep things secure here for a while now, we have a community within these walls. Y'all should stay a little bit, get some rest and something to eat. We have a couple of residents here with medical training, I'm sure one of them will be happy to take a look at the baby if you're worried."

Beth shot a questioning glance over to Daryl, wondering if they ought to take the lady up on her hospitality. Daryl was cautious but they were stuck, he was incredibly tired and his stomach was growling, they couldn't go on without a rest first, so he nodded curtly in compliance.

"That would be great, thank you." Beth smiled thinly at the woman.

"Excellent, welcome to The Maycroft!" Jeanette lifted a hand and gestured to the shabby looking surroundings,"Can I just take a few details first? It's policy, helps us to keep track of everyone now we're growing in numbers." she looked down at her clipboard, clicking the top on her pen.

"Name?"

"Beth Dixon" she stated flatly, trying to ignore the sharp intake of breath Daryl took beside her.

"And this is Judith, did you say? Such a pretty, traditional name." the kindly woman gestured to Judy who was resting on Beth's hip,"She sure is, Judith Dixon. And this is Daryl Dixon" she nodded to the sullen looking man by her side, for the most part he seemed resigned to letting her do the talking.

"Age?" Jeanette's suspicious glance was not lost on Daryl, she clearly knew he was much older than Beth, who appeared for some reason to be charadeing as his wife!

"Twenty two..." Beth absently pointed a finder in her own direction, smoothly telling her lie without a hint of guilt, she drew a shaky breath and gazed over Judith's head to Daryl, she really didn't know how old he was but for the purposes of their story she quickly assessed him, he could pass for thirty eight right? "...Daryl's thirty eight and this one here, she's four months." Beth concluded.

Jeanette's eyes narrowed, assessing Beths lean figure," Oh, you forget how everything just springs back in to place at your age..." she said knowingly,"...I had my eldest at twenty one, I was back in my size six jeans the week after, Lord those days are gone!" she spoke with a slight sadness and Beth wondered for a moment what had happened to Jeanette's eldest, the woman clearly mourned more than her size six jeans.

"Come now, we'll put you in room 210, do you guys have crib for the little one?" the older woman asked. Beth shook her head,"No, to be honest we don't have a whole lot more than we're stood up in, we didn't have much time to pack." she looked down to Judith feeling wholly inadequate. "Oh not to worry, 210 has a couch, and I'll see if we can't find you a travel crib or something." Jeanette reached out a hand to tickle under Judy's chin.

"If you guys want anything to eat the kitchens are just down the hall, make yourself at home. Of an evening we usually all eat together in there, s'were we get all the gossip." she playfully leaned in to Beth and she couldn't help but warm to the woman, she seemed so genuine and friendly. She'd been holed up in the SUV with Daryl gradually becoming more and more surly with her as the days drew on, she longed for a kind word or a little comfort.

Not a word was spoken between the two of them as they made their way to the room, but she could almost feel the anger radiating off Daryl. They got to 210, as soon as the door slammed behind them Daryl threw his bag to the floor and pointed an accusatory finger in Beth's face,"Care to tell me what the hell you're doin' girl?!"

Beth opened her mouth to explain but before words would come Daryl was in her face,"We've just lost all of our people and you think this is a good time to play house?! Did you see how that woman looked at me, she thinks I'm some dirty old man! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK TO SAY WE WERE MARRIED?!"

Something snapped in Beth, thankfully she had placed Judith down on the bed, the little girl had more or less nodded off and was oblivious to their quarrel.

"AND TELL THEM WHAT DARYL?! THAT I'M EIGHTEEN AND TRAVELING WITH A BABY THAT ISN'T MINE AND SHE ISN'T YOURS NEITHER AND WE HARDLY KNOW ONE ANOTHER?!" she leaned up, almost on her tiptoes to meet his gaze,"THEY'D TAKE HER AWAY FROM US YOU IDIOT!" she jabbed a boney finger right in his chest.

It was now Daryl's turn to be spoken over, without missing a beat Beth leaned in once more,"And for the record I have no desire to play house with you..." she wiggled her fingers in mock quotation marks as to emphasise his,"playing house" remark, man that had hit a nerve." ...I just want to keep what's left of this sorry excuse for a group together, unfortunately for all of us at the moment that amounts to you, me and Judith! Have you forgotten what we just ran from?! Hell, we don't know that this place isn't run by the governor too? You think we should just trust them with all our real details? They have all this stuff, power generators, food, heating, that Woodburry place had all that didn't it? Something tells me Jeanette's not knocked this whole place up on her own. We have to be careful and we have to stick together, the best way to do that is for them to think we're a family!"

She blew a wisp of blonde hair out of her face, quite exhausted from her tirade, Daryl Dixon had gotten on her last nerve these past few days. She braced herself for the mouthful she would no doubt get back.

"You quite done now kid?" he bit out in a calmer tone than she was expecting, she merely glared back in response.

With a huff he battered the door to the bathroom almost off it's hinges. In a few moments she heard the patter of the shower.

Once he was showered and dry he pulled on his pants and a fresh vest out of his bag, he walked gingerly back into the room to be greeted by the sight of Beth and Judith curled up fast asleep on the couch.

He felt like shit. The kid was right, she'd thought on her feet the way she'd been told to do countless times back at the Farm and in the Prison. She'd exercised caution and seen danger when he was too tired to notice it, and what had he done? He'd yelled at her for it. As if it wasn't enough that she was stuck in the middle of no where being a teenage mom to a baby that wasn't even her own, with no one but a grouchy redneck for company. _She must be having a ball. _

Riffling through the closet he pulled out a musty smelling blanket and placed it over the two of them, letting his hand rest on Asskicker's head for a moment, Beth was right, she did feel hot. They'd have to watch that.

His stomach rumbled unceremoniously and he decided to make his way down to the kitchens to make them both something to eat. He found them to be better stocked than the Prison or even the farms kitchen had ever been, somehow the façade of normality made him uneasy, kitchens didn't look like this no more, not now. Pushing his concerns to the back of his mind he made them a couple of sandwiches and took a kettle of hot water to warm Judiths formula.

Back in the room Beth was awake and setting up a travel crib that Jeanette had had sent up for them, she looked up at him with a shy glance, "Hey."

"Hey" he muttered. "Peace offerin'" he said as gently as he could placing the sandwich on the table next to her and taking a bite of his own. Beth considered turning her nose up at the food, to make some kind of point but she couldn't. Her mouth watered at the thought of eating something that wasn't gram crackers.

She dropped Judith's bottle into the hot water to warm between bites, inwardly searching for things to say but it was Daryl who broke the silence.

"I bin thinkin'" he started, not looking up from his food,"What you said, about pretendin' to be a family, keeping us together, we're gonna have to get our story straight." Beth knew instantly that that was the closest she would get to an apology.

"What do you mean?" she looked up absently from testing the temperature of Judith's milk.

"We gotta have a back story, if someone asks me how we met and then they ask you, we gotta say the same thing ya know?" he shrugged licking his fingers clean of the mayo that had gotten on them.

Beth nodded offering the bottle to Judith, smiling down as the little girl drank greedily," Hmm I guess so, what you got?"

"I dunno, gonna have to explain the age difference, I'm pretty much old enough to be your Daddy."

"They think I'm twenty two and my Daddy's old enough to be my Granddaddy, it never mattered none." Beth spoke quietly, the thought of her father made her chest ache, she missed him so bad.

"That still doesn't help our credibility none." Daryl tried to get the conversation back on track, seeing the sorrow colour Beth's face.

Beth gazed down at Judith and then back up as though milling through possibilities in her head, "You could have come to help Daddy with the horses maybe, we had people do that sometimes." she mused.

"'Cept I don't know nothin', about horses, not much anyway." Daryl dashed the idea and Beth's lips curled slightly at the memory of Daryl's short encounter with nervous Nelly.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that."

"Dumb fuckin' horse" Daryl spoke under his breath, knowing full well the incident they both recalled.

"You could have been my tutor maybe? Teaching me how ta use a crossbow or somethin'?" she pondered.

"And how exactly does that help my _not being dirty old bastard_ credentials?"

"Daryl! Baby ears!" Beth chided, placing her hand over Judy's ears, half mockingly. She was relieved that the atmosphere was less tense between them now, almost playful.

Holding out his hands for Beth to pass the child over to him to hold, Daryl sighed,"I'm sorry Asskicker, come 'ere."

"Ok, you were a friend of the family and I seduced you!" Beth's blue eyes lit up with mirth,"I'm a regular old Lolita type, you saw me on the porch in my Sundress and fell hopelessly in love, didn't stand a chance! My Daddy didn't approve but we eloped anyway." Beth rolled her eyes theatrically and threw herself back on the couch.

Daryl couldn't help but let out a low chuckle at Beth's silliness, he'd not seen her so much as smile in weeks,"Sounds like a damn Springsteen song!"

Beth clapped her hands together and nodded pointing in his direction, giggling her agreement," I know! S'the best I got, sorry." she sat back amused.

Looking back down at Judith he grabbed a hold of her tiny hand," Ya hear that Asskicker, she seduced me!" Beth chuckled at the absurdity of the situation, even in a world where the dead rose up to feast on the living being shacked up with Daryl Dixon still seemed absurd.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey Everyone! I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all of your kind follows and reviews! I really have taken on board what you guys have said, you guys must be the only ship on the internet that want a, "slow burn" and no quick smut but I'm with you on that, these two have a long way to go. So thank you again fellow Bethyl shippers, you're all awesome! Hope you like chapter 2!

**A Close Call.**

The next few days saw Daryl and Beth settled into what might almost be described as a routine, Daryl had hinted at getting more gas and moving on. He meticulously studied a map, plotting out his proposed route for them to get back up north and somehow catch up with the group. He didn't like to admit it to Beth but the place gave him the creeps. Sure the people were nice enough but they were all trying too hard to make things normal, they irritated him with their niceties, it served only to remind him that his life wasn't anything like theirs, even before the world went to shit.

Their plans were waylaid when Asskicker's fever got worse. Beth spent two days and two nights walking the corridor outside their room trying to get the child to settle down and rest, but she only slept for a few hours at most when she'd thoroughly exhausted herself with fussing and crying.

On the second night Beth encountered a young woman she'd seen in the kitchens once before, she was older than Beth, late twenties maybe, tall and slim, with olive skin and striking brown eyes. She too had a baby on her shoulder, he was swaddled in a blue blanket and he appeared to have a pair of lungs on him to rival Judith's. She and Beth exchanged sympathetic glances.

Eventually Judith subdued a little.

"You'll have to share your secret with me some time!" The older woman whispered nodding towards Judith while her own baby still whined and whimpered.

Beth's eyes grew wide, "Secret? What secret?" she snapped more on edge than she had meant to sound.

Luckily the woman was too distracted by the little boy in her arms to notice Beth's overreaction.

" Your secret of how you get the little one to quieten down." She clarified gesturing to Judith whose eyelids now seemed to have grown too heavy for her to keep open.

Beth looked down at the girl, relieved. "Oh, there's no secret believe me, this was a war of wills!" she smiled kissing the top of Judith's head.

"Tell me about it, I think this one's teething, he can happily get by on 2 hours sleep a night but I sure as hell can't!"

Daryl had insisted that they keep themselves to themselves while ever they stayed there but Beth saw the opportunity to gain some knowledge from the lady in front of her, she clearly had a handle on this whole motherhood thing and without Carol or her Daddy around now she'd need someone to give her some pointers.

"What's his name?" Beth asked inquisitively.

"This is Aaron, and I'm Anna." She held out her hand momentarily for Beth to shake, Beth perched Judith on her hip and introduced herself.

"Beth, and this is Judith."

Beth heard Daryl's words of warning echo in her head_, "Don't go chatting to anyone just for shits n giggles, the less we say the less likely we are to trip ourselves up, and the safer we are."_

And yet she instantly warmed to Anna, she was breezy and bright despite being clearly as sleep deprived as Beth, the two soon slipped into easy conversation.

It turned out that Anna was staying in Room 245 with her partner Joe and their two kids Aaron and Lucy, who was just about to turn four. They too had been driven into the hotel by the wildfires. Anna was kind enough to pass on some baby ibuprofen for Judith, "It's most likely teething y' know? Or diaper rash? Baby's run fevers over the littlest things, try not to fret." She soothed. Beth had never been more grateful for simple reassurance.

Returning to their room, Beth laid a now sleeping Judith out on the couch, stripping her down to her diaper in the hopes of cooling her down some. As the days went on Beth had grown more and more anxious about the steadily rising temperature Judith presented. She had sat for hours the previous night pressing a cold cloth to her hot little forehead.

Daryl walked in from doing his stint on lookout duty, he'd offered his services, more than likely to avoid going completely mad from being stuck in a pokey hotel room with Beth and Judith for days on end. One thing about Daryl Dixon was he needed to be useful. Despite his cautionary advise to Beth about not mixing with people he'd already toyed with the idea of putting together some kind of hunting party, sure they had supplies but fresh meat was still hard to come by these days, you had to go and get it.

He walked into the dimly lit room but Beth didn't so much as look up to greet him, she was tired and dishevelled, she could certainly pass for twenty two today. Her eyes were prone to Judith's little sleeping body and concern creased her brow.

"She still no better?" he asked, toeing off his boots sauntering over to where the girls sat.

"Yeah, I don't know if I'm imagining it or not but she feels hotter to me. I wish she'd wake up so I can try and give her some of this." she clutched at the baby ibuprofen.

"What is it?" Daryl nodded towards the medicine.

Beth gazed back a little perturbed, he wasn't going to like that she was chatting with Anna.

"It's just baby ibuprofen, good for fevers and stuff… Anna gave it me."

"Anna?" Daryl repeated Beth's words back at her, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

She looked back a little guilty.

He ran an exasperated hand over his stubble , "Beth we said…"

Beth jumped in, her fragile wits not being able to take another Dixon lecture on,"_Stayin' safe_".

"No_ you_ said Daryl! She's not a threat and besides I didn't tell her nothin' anyway. She's just a lady who's across the way; she has a boy Judith's age. I needed some advice, I'm out of my depth here!" All her fraught words were spoken in hushed tones, her eyes were pleading and for once Daryl knew when to leave it. They'd discuss it later.

"Alright…alright…" he held his hands up, "…you wake her up, we might as well try n' get some o' that stuff down her." With that he went to his bag and picked out a cleanish shirt, disappearing into the bathroom to change.

Beth huffed, wondering how best to tackle waking the sleeping babe. She reached out and picked her up, hoping the jolt would rouse her. "Judith, baby wake up!" It seemed an alarming thing to say after days of begging the kid to sleep. Taking a hold of a tiny hand she squeezed lightly, "Wakey wakey, come on…I got some medicine for you."

Still nothing. Beth squeezed her hand a little harder, and then her feet but there was no response, not so much as a whimper.

"Judy" she called a little louder, touching the childs sleeping face, she would always wake up to that, she wasn't that much of a heavy sleeper.

Panic and bile rose in Beth's throat, she wasn't waking up. "Judith please?!" she placed her ear to the baby's chest and was at least a little relieved to hear a steady heartbeat, Beth quickly concluded that the little girl was unconscious.

Some kind of instinct kicked in and soon she was yelling the place down, "DARYL! DARYL SHE'S NOT WAKING UP!"

In an instant Daryl was behind her, "What do ya mean she ain't waking up?" he was uncharacteristically gentle as he scooped Judith out of Beth's arms.

"I tried waking her, I tried squeezing her hands, feet…jiggling her…nothing! She's unconscious!" Beth spluttered, unable to get the words out fast enough.

All the while Daryl was trying to wake her himself.

"Come on now Asskicker, don't you do this to me! Come on, stop playin'! Wake up!" It was a disarming sight to see the fierce Daryl Dixon so worried and fearful. Beth had seen the man cornered by walkers countless time and not once had he looked as afraid as he did at that moment.

Beth ran both hands across her face and into her hair to compose herself, "We need to get her down to the lobby, Jeanette said that they have residents with medical training…come on!"

From then on it was a blur, Beth had barely been able to keep up as Daryl practically flew down the stairs, Judith like a doll in his arms.

Jeannette had wasted no time at all in guiding them to the area she referred to as,"the hospital". It was far from what you would expect of an actual hospital but it was clean and quiet with individual bays divided by makeshift curtains. There were none of the usual gadgets and bleeping machines that you used to see in the emergency rooms of old, but they seemed well stocked with saline solution, gauze and the alike.

A plain clothed man of about thirty sprang into action after a few brief words with Jeannette. He plucked Judith out of Daryl's arms without a word, leaving him thoroughly aggrieved.

"This is Marc, he's a med school graduate, he's the best medic we got here, she's in good hands." Jeanette flapped around the small hospital bay, offering her assurance to Beth.

Laying her little figure out on an adult sized bunk the dark haired man began firing questions as he tried to assess her condition, "How long has she had this fever?" he peered in to Judith's eyes with a pen light.

Beth clung on to the sleeves of her cardigan trying to stop herself from shaking, "A couple of days I guess, she's been fussy for a while. I thought she was maybe teething or something, but today she's just gotten hotter and hotter…"

"You should have brought her here sooner; she's going to need intravenous antibiotics." The doctor snapped in a cold tone.

Jeannette seemed to know exactly what to do and hurried off to locate a drip stand and an IV.

"Hey watch your mouth, it's not her fault!" Daryl's temper flared in response, "We didn't even know this place was 'ere, the girl's done everything she could!"

"Could you wait outside please?!" the doctor scolded as he set about putting the IV into Judith's arm.

"No way, we ain't leavin' her, not on 'er own!" Beth caught the arm that Daryl was raising to make his point; he looked down on her, her huge blue eyes full of fear, "Come on…we gotta let him work, we're all on the same side." The sound of Beth's voice so serious and low chilled him to the bone.

"Go take a seat over there; we'll call you when we've got her comfortable." Jeannette squeezed Beth's arm briefly before going back to assist with Judith.

They both slumped against the wall, side by side and slid down it until they were sat there like rag dolls on the floor, the wall behind them keeping them upright.

Daryl gnawed at his thumb until it bled and Beth resumed with her silent weeping. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. Both sets of eyes stayed intently on the makeshift hospital bay.

"He was right…" Beth murmured, her stare somewhat glazed with tears. Daryl looked towards her questioningly.

"…I should have gotten her help before now." Her eyes rolled to meet Daryl's.

"I just watched her get sicker and sicker day after day and I didn't do anythin'…"her lip trembled.

"…she'd be better off without me, you would too. "she concluded, another stray tear making its way down her cheek.

Quick as a flash Daryl's hand snapped out to take a hold of her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Don't. Don't you ever say that…" his tone was flat and factual, "…you have looked after that child since the day she was born, in her eyes you're her moma, not some woman she never knew, you! You look after her jus' fine! This coulda happened ta anyone, s'not your fault, none o' this."

Beth found a strange comfort in his words, half motivational speaker half sergeant major, either way she had needed to hear it. She blinked back at him, his hand still squeezing her chin a little harder than she would like.

"Get yer shit together, that little girl is going to get better and she's gonna need you. We both do. "

The moment was broken by the doctor leaning out from between the curtains, gesturing for them to go over; both ran towards him with interpretation.

The young doctor who had snapped at them a few minutes ago seemed calmer now, his demeanour somewhat more sympathetic, "She's stabilised now, you can sit with her if you want." The relief Beth felt almost made her dizzy, Daryl leaned his forearm heavily on her shoulder, momentarily resting his head there, he exhaled so sharply she could feel his breath all the way down her back.


	3. Grand Displays of Affection

Hey Everyone! I just wanted to say how grateful I am for everyone's follows, favorites and reviews, I have received way more encouragement than I thought I would, I'm really proud to be part of this ship, you're all so lovely.

Here's chapter 3, I really hope you all like it. If you need a visual for Marc in my head he's JD from Scrubs, but he's not as nice as JD, don't be fooled!

This chapter does flip around a little I have tried to break it up as clearly as I can. I've had to create scene breaks by using ***TWD*** lines, I noticed another clever shipper doing that so they deserve all the credit for that idea!

Thanks Again.

**Grand Displays of Affection**

Marc assured the pair that Judith should make a full recovery, though she would need a full course of the intravenous antibiotics and she may be a little weak for a while. In the following days they took it in turns to sit beside her, Daryl had declined Jeanette's many offers to watch the child while he and Beth both got some rest, explaining, "No offence but I don't want 'er to wake up and neither of us be here, don't want her thinkin' we abandoned her or nothin'." he shrugged trying to play his statement down but Jeanette nodded at him knowingly, realising that maybe she had underestimated him at first glance.

Beth walked in to the makeshift hospital bay to see Daryl right where she had left him a few hours before, except now he was slumped forward, head rested in his forearms, arms rested on the edge of Judith's bed, fast asleep. He looked younger this way, his hair all floppy over his face, eyelashes thick and long resting on his cheeks. After a few strange moments she realised that she was stood there transfixed by him, _Daryl Dixon_. She told herself it was because she'd never really had chance to look at him any other time, not properly. Shaking herself out of it she reached out a hand and shook his shoulder, "Hey! Hey wake up!" Daryl's head sprung up in a slight panic, he quickly assessed his surroundings and seemed to calm once his eyes rested on Beth.

"Go get in bed, go on, we'll be fine here." She assured.

"Nah 'am ok, been dozing here anyways, I'm gonna go and see if I can help out on watch or sumthin'"

"You need some proper rest, you're gonna burn out!" Beth reasoned, playing every bit the nagging wife.

"Quit yer fussin'" Daryl half spoke half yawned as he stumbled passed her and out of the hospital bay.

Left alone with Judith, Beth smiled down at the little girl, she still wasn't awake much, just a few glances around here and there and she was off again but the colour had returned to her cheeks at least.

Marc pushed his way past the curtain that separated them from the rest of the hotel, "Knock knock, just come to check on her drip and vitals, that ok?" He had been far friendlier since their first encounter. He'd apologised for being so short with Beth and explained that he really wasn't used to working on sick children, he'd barely qualified when the world went crazy. They'd not trained him for that in med school.

"Of course!" Beth beamed. She liked Marc, he reminded her of someone Maggie might have brought home in the days before Glen, he was smart and kind. He spoke to her freely, always striking up easy rapport. At first she'd thought he might be a little condescending, seeing her there so young with a baby but he'd been nothing but respectful.

Marc looked at the clipboard and back at the drip, "She's doing fine now, she'll be up and givin' you guys grief in no time!"

"Thanks, seriously…Thank you for all you did." Beth clutched at the sleeves of her sweater," I honestly don't know what we'd have done without you, if this had happened when we were on the road or somethin'…" Beth trailed off realising that without her Dad or Carol around they may well have not been able to save her,"…it don't bear thinkin' about. We're so grateful."

"You're welcome, it's my job, it's what I trained for. Sure I didn't think it'd be quite like this…" Marc gestured around him, "…but I'm glad I was here." He took a seat at the opposite side of Judith's bed to Beth. He'd done that quite a few times in the last few days, stopping to chat with Beth about regular stuff, his life before , his parents, how he came to find The Maycroft. Beth was content to listen, and gave up very little about herself, she figured it was best that way. She didn't think he had noticed until he smiled directly at her, as though he was remembering his manners, "I'm sorry, here I am talkin' all about me! What about you?"

Beth glanced down at Judy, unwilling to meet his gaze. "What about me? "

"Well, where are you from?" Marc asked and Beth inwardly groaned knowing this would be her starter for ten.

"Georgia."

"And Daryl, he from Georgia too?" he pressed.

Beth scoffed, "Of course he is, he's only gotta open his mouth for you to know that. Yeah we're all from Georgia."

Marc narrowed his eyes as though he was considering his words very carefully, Beth wasn't sure she wanted to answer what he was about to ask but curiosity sure was about to get the better of her.

"What? What is it?" she tried to smile reassuringly.

"I don't mean to speak out of turn, but what's the deal with you two?" Marc's lips pressed shut as soon as the words left his mouth as though he regretted asking immediately.

Beth was a little affronted, they'd not really discussed their back story since their first night there and suddenly her little_ Southern Belle Lolita_ story just didn't seem adequate.

"What's the deal? He's my husband, I'm his wife, that's the deal." She tried her best to sound breezy, but even the word husband felt alien on her tongue.

"I get that but…" Marc paused, again trying to shuffle word around in his head so as not to cause offence,"…you two, I wouldn't exactly place you together - you know?"

Beth nodded, trying to make it look like she was used to hearing those sentiments from people, "Sure he's older than me…"

"No, it's not that." Marc intercepted what she was about to say, "You just don't seem very _together_."

Beth looked back at him uneasy, searching for words. She couldn't risk giving them away, this had to be plausible.

**TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TW D*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD***

Meanwhile Daryl took up watch with Joe; he was shacked up with Anna, Beth's friend from across the hall. He was a little taller than Daryl, gangly almost, with neatly cut short brown hair and a thick accent, he could handle himself pretty well and Daryl wondered if maybe he was ex-Military or something like that.

After sharing a look out with him on the hotel roof for a couple of evenings he now shared Beth's first instinct that neither Joe nor Anna were a threat, they seemed like good enough people. Surprisingly he found Joe remarkably less irritating than the rest of the people around here, even if he was a bit of a talker.

As Daryl had strode up, crossbow slung over his shoulder, cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth, Joe had clocked him instantly, "Hey, whatta you doin' here, shouldn't you be with Beth n' Judy or somethin'? "

"Jus came from there, she's ok, Beth's with 'er now." Daryl drawled, Joe couldn't help but notice how frayed he looked.

"How is she now?" Joe asked his voice held genuine concern; the guy was a father himself.

Daryl looked up at Joe through squinted eyes, "Same. Doctor says she's gonna be alright though."

Joe nodded in appreciation remaining silent for a few scarce seconds," Man, I remember when Lucy was a baby, she gave us such a scare, one day she was fine next she was sick as I ever saw anyone, puking, shaking, God it was awful. I got a call at work to tell me to go to the hospital straight away, I never known fear like it. I got there and she was all hooked up to machines that she was barely big enough for. I'll never forget that. "

Daryl felt like a fraud, this was some farther to father shit that he didn't feel he had a place in, but then something Joe said struck a chord with him.

"And the worst thing is bein' helpless, you think as her Daddy you can fix everything. You'd beat down anyone that tried to hurt her or get in 'er way, but you can't help her with sumthin' like that, you can't point your shot gun at a fever can ya?"

Daryl took a long drag on his cigarette, he hated to admit it, even to himself but Joe had just summed up his feelings more eloquently than he ever could himself, he supposed for someone who talked so much he was bound to get good at it," And ain't that the most frustratin' thing in the world?"

Joe chuckled, "Sure is, you better get used to it, she's jus a baby now, you wait till she get's a little older, that's when the fun really starts!"

Daryl's lips curled despite himself, "I hadn't really thought that far ahead, don't tend to these days." Truth was he never had.

" Sure, I know what ya mean, everythin's changed now but the way I see it is that's all the more reason to make the most o' things now, if ya can, you know? No one knows what's gonna happen tomorrow." Joe paused realising the gravity of his words.

"Sorry, right ray of sunshine aren't I? I didn't mean to be all doom n gloom." Joe cast a sympathetic glance at Daryl who now looked to be in even worse shape than when he climbed up on the roof top.

"You're alright man, not sayin' anythin' that ain't true." Daryl grumbled, fact was he'd quite enjoyed listening to Joe, he didn't feel like such an outcast with him. And whilst he spoke a lot he mostly talked sense.

"I got this, go back in an see them, seriously." Joe nodded back towards the stairwell, instructing Daryl to go back to Beth and Judith.

Daryl debated with himself, he wasn't one to shirk his duties but thanks to Joe he now had an overwhelming urge to go sit with Asskicker, maybe even Beth too. He'd hardly seen her since the baby got sick, what with taking it in shifts to sit by her bed.

The first night he'd sent her to bed first, she'd been exhausted. He'd returned to their room after she'd come to relieve him, the bed sheets were still vaguely warm and he'd lain there weirdly comforted by her scent.

He looked towards Joe and back at the stairwell door "You sure?"

"Course I am, go on wit' ya!"

Daryl almost smiled, "I owe ya one."

The stairwell drew down at the back of the hotel. Daryl approached the Hospital bay from the back, from the bay Beth and Judith were in he hear voices, instantly he recognised a male voice in there too. His curiosity pricked he slowed ensuring that his steps were silent, his tracking skills once again being put to good use.

**TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD****TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD****TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD*TWD**

_"You just don't seem very together." _

Beth faltered for a moment, "I don't what you mean. We're married, you don't get much more together than that?" she tried to make out like Marc's words had seemed absurd to her.

"The other night you were crying and shaking and he didn't so much as touch you? Didn't comfort you or anything?" Marc grew bolder with his questioning.

Beth waved a hand as if to dismiss the observation, "He's just not real tactile is all, never has been. Doesn't mean he doesn't care about us. He loves Judith, he barely leaves her side."

"And you?" Marc asked flatly.

"Me?" Beth repeated, her voice pleading ignorance.

"Does he love you?" Marc's words hung in the air but for once Beth wasn't at a loss for words, without thinking she bit back.

"You know what; maybe love isn't all about grand displays of affection any more. Maybe love is going back for someone when it'd be safer for you to keep going? Or making sure that they're fed? Or sitting by them day and night when they're sick so they don't have to wake up alone?" She wasn't sure where all that came from but she sure as hell knew that she meant every word.

Marc seemed placated by Beth's revelation, but still he didn't let it drop, "Is that enough though?"

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Daryl heard the whole conversation from behind the screen, there was no dressing it up now, he was eavesdropping plain and simple, still his conscience didn't bother him much.

The way Marc was pestering Beth got his back up from the start, this guy couldn't have made it clearer that he didn't approve of them being together but why couldn't he mind his own fuckin' business? What was it to him if he didn't hug his _pretend_ damn wife?

Beneath his initial defences it stung him a little to realise what the doctor was getting at, he'd seen a big old redneck like Daryl with a fragile little thing like Beth, noticed their lack of proximity and jumped straight to the conclusion that he must be beatin' on her or something.

All his life people had been making assumptions like that, just taking one look at him and figuring that he was no good. He wasn't like his own father had been, but he got tarred just the same. He'd never raised his hand to a woman or a child in his life and he never would.

He was about to sulk off and lick his wounds when Beth began to speak.

_"You know what; maybe love isn't all about grand displays of affection any more. Maybe love is going back for someone when it'd be safer for you to keep going? Or making sure that they're fed? Or sitting by them day and night when they're sick so they don't have to wake up alone?"_

He'd never known she appreciated all that stuff. She'd been looked after all her life he'd just figured she was accustomed to people's kindness and never noticed his own, but clearly she did. And there had been an air of defensiveness in her tone that didn't escape his notice; _maybe he'd done a bit of underestimating himself?_

"Is that enough though?" Marc's words needled him enough to jolt him into action. That was it, this asshole wasn't gonna hassle Beth anymore, she didn't have to justify herself to him. With a silent swing of the ramshackle curtain he made his entrance.

"How's my little Asskicker doin?" he announced, emphasis on the _my_.

Beth's eyes lit up with surprise and relief, the conversation between her and Marc had been getting somewhat heavy. To her amusement Daryl strode up to her like he owned the place, clamped two clumsy hands on her shoulders and planted a heavy kiss on her head, right in her hair by her pony tail, if he'd done it any harder it could have been considered a headbutt.

Unceremoniously he span around the spare chair until it was backwards, moving slightly closer to Beth at the same time. He plonked himself down on it, looking side ways to Beth who stared at him bewildered, mouth agape.

"She's doing fine…you're back kinda early?" Beth shot him a look that Daryl knew said, _what are you up to? _It was funny how they could do that now, he supposed it came with being in such close quarters with someone for a period of time, you learnt to read them.

"I owe Joe a shift, just thought I'd come n' sit with ma girls for a while." Daryl gave a knowing glance back in Beth's direction, not before turning his attention back to Marc," That ok with you Doc?"

Marc's brow knitted for an instant, he'd not said it in so many words but he was fairly sure that Daryl had just told him to beat it.

"Of course, I'll get out of your way." With that Marc made his exit, not before taking a cursory glance over his shoulder at the unlikely little family.


	4. Making the Best of It

Hey Everyone!

Wow, you guys are awesome, the feedback you have left me has spurred me on to write and write and write and honestly I hear you, you don't like Marc lol! Don't worry, Beth only has eyes for Daryl, and who can blame her! Ok, so this is chapter 4, I'm not sure I know it's a lot of dialogue again but trust me I now know exactly where I'm taking this, I keep waking up in the middle of the night to make notes! Thank you all so much fellow Bethyl shippers!

**Making the Best of It**

After Judith finished her course of antibiotics she was allowed to leave the hospital and Daryl's mind wondered back to how they were going to get on the road again and find the rest of the group. One evening after a long day Beth sat on the couch feeding Judith her last bottle of the day, Daryl stretched out on the bed in front of her, laid flat on his stomach, perched up on his elbows, once again studying the tatty old map they had taken with them from the farm all that time ago.

"It's gonna take a couple more days but I reckon we can get back on track, I checked over the SUV earlier still seems to be turnin' over fine."

Placing Judith over her shoulder she moved to sit beside Daryl and study the map, "You really think we'll find them?" she asked, a tone of doubtful sadness in her voice, they'd been at the Maycroft for almost a month now, she longed to find the rest of their group as much as Daryl did but she still didn't like the idea of taking Judith out on the road so soon after she'd been unwell.

"We gotta try ain't we? Besides, we need to get out of this place. Starting to get cabin fever."

Beth gave him a wry smile, she knew he wasn't one for being cooped up, he'd jumped at the chance of look out duty with Joe every night, he was practically nocturnal.

"I'm sorry you're stuck with us, I know we slow you down." Beth tried to sound hard and factual; like they were just two soldiers discussing tactics but the sincerity of the statement punched Daryl in the gut.

"Ey, you know I didn't mean it like that. You n' Judith are family, it's just every fucker else in this place that's gettin' ta me, not you!"

Beth nodded compliantly, she was grateful for these fleeting moments of reassurance he gave her, they were scarce but he seemed to know what to say when she needed it most.

"They're not so bad…we've met worse." She said softly, laying Judith down in her crib.

" Yeah n we've met better too." Daryl chided fiddling with the pencil in his hands, trying not to let his words give away how much the things Marc had said all those weeks ago had bothered him, and bothered him still. It was no secret that he had listened in, Beth had guessed as much with his clumsy attempt at affection. He had bitten her head off when she dared to defend the doctor, saying he didn't mean no harm. Daryl knew better, Beth was still wet behind the ears but Daryl had been around enough to know that if she'd have said the wrong thing to that jackass he'd have taken Beth and Judith away, had Daryl locked down somewhere, just so he could play the Knight in Shining Armour.

Deciding not to flame the conversation Beth retook her place beside him on the bed, eyes fixed on the map, "Yeah, I guess we have."

She could read him better these days, he was no longer the complete mystery to her that he had been a month or so ago. She was beginning to understand his reasoning, why he was how he was. She'd seen the scars on his back a few times when he changed his shirt, after a while he'd given up hiding stuff like that from her, seemed pointless. He never told her how the scars got there and she sure as hell wasn't going ask. Not that it took a genius to figure it out.

She also knew that what Marc said had hit a nerve, sure he'd make out like it was no big deal but it didn't escape her how territorial Daryl had become whenever Marc was around. If he entered the kitchens where they ate while they were still there Daryl's hand instinctively found its way into Beth's lap, or around her shoulders. Sometimes she'd take the opportunity to lean into him slightly in response. She told herself it was all part of the act, this pretence they had to keep up to keep them safe, but after nearly a month at The Maycroft it was pretty apparent that there was no immediate danger there.

"I'll speak to Jeanette tomorrow, see if we can take some food with us, some warm clothes, gasoline. " Beth rattled off her mental shopping list out loud.

"We set off first thing the next day?" Daryl confirmed finalising their plans.

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Jeannette had practically begged Beth to stay when she broke the news they were leaving, "Honey I know you want to find your people, but those wild fires, they were fierce and we still don't know who started them, there's nothin' to say that it won't happen again."

Beth hadn't expected it to be such a wrench to leave, all the loss they had suffered somehow caused her to emotionally cling on to every kindly new face they encountered, Jeanette was one of them.

"I know, but we'll stay safe, we don't take any chances. Not with Judy with us." Beth squeezed Jeanette's hand tight.

"You know if you can't get to wear your goin', or you can't find your family, you can always come back here. We can always use good people, and you're welcome here, even your Mr Cranky Pants." Beth spluttered out a giggle, but her eyes told how touched she was by the older woman's words.

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Jeannette had packed them up with enough food and formula to keep them going for a good while, along with warm clothes for Judith. Beth wrestled with the zipper on her holdall as Daryl stepped out of the bathroom, "You commin' down for dinner? Think we're about packed for tomorrow right?"

Down in the kitchens they took up what had become their spot, in the dimmest corner facing the door. At first they had sat there as loners but over time Joe, Anna and the kids always joined them, pulling up the next table with theirs to make one long row.

Beth felt guilty that she'd not mentioned anything to Anna, the two had become what could be considered friends.

They chatted inanely over dinner, they mostly reminisced about the times before, what they liked to do, what they missed about the old world. Usually these kind of conversations riled Daryl up. Beth surmised it was because he was none to happy in the old world himself, but tonight he was strangely jovial, maybe it was because he knew they were leaving tomorrow.

They were about to make their excuses and leave when Joe chimed up,"Not so fast there kids!" he smiled, slamming a bottle of Grey Goose on the table.

"Where tha hell did ya find that?" Daryl flopped back down in to his seat.

"Never you mind! Couldn't let ya go without a proper send of could we?" Daryl's eyes shot over to Beth and she held up her hands in mock surrender, "It wasn't me I swear!"

Anna intervened owning up, "It was Jeanette, she let it slip to me, sorry." She clasped her hands together at Beth as though to ask for her forgiveness.

"It's ok, honestly, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just hate goodbyes y'know?" Beth's words were sincere.

"So ya gonna have a few drinks?" Joe asked cracking the bottles top and divvying it out into peoples drinking glasses before they could answer.

Daryl hadn't drank since the night in the CDC building, and man had there been times when he could have done with it, "Hit me."

An hour or so passed by, Daryl and Joe engaged in what could only be described as an unspoken drinking competition, each one not willing to drink slower than the other.

Anna and Beth nursed their cups, occasionally sniffing at the neat vodka, taking a few sips here and there. Jeanette came over to fuss over the kids and was currently playing an extensive game of peak a boo with Aaron.

Breaking up the ladies chit chat Joe leaned over to refill their cups, "Come on now ladies you have some catching up to do! In fact you know what? We should have a toast, shots all round!"

Beth cast a glance at Daryl looking for some kind of reassurance, he looked somewhat looser than before, "Go on, won't hurt ya!" He said, his voice a little louder for the alcohol, he reached out his hands to take Judith who was currently perched on Beth's knee,"Gimme!"

She passed the baby over, allowing her cup to be refilled. The few cursory sips she had already taken had warmed her, although the astringent smell made her wrinkle her nose.

True to form Joe spoke up first," Ok…ok shushhh, I'd like to say a few words!"

"Oh man, a few? Seriously dude, it's never a few!" Daryl teased, but Joe took it in good jest, he always did.

"Daryl…Beth…Asskicker…" Joe raised his cup as though he was the best man at a wedding," …it's been a real pleasure knowin' ya. We all hope y'all find your family up North n' that we see you again, under happier circumstances. Well, I know that I speak for Me, Anna, Jeanette…well we all wish yer the best of luck! You'll always have a place with us 'ere, if you want it."

Daryl was relieved when Joe raised his glass and signalled for them to drink, the alcohol he'd already consumed and Joe's kind words threatened to make him feel emotions that he usually kept under check.

They all clinked their cups and took down the vodka in one, Beth was the last to take her shot and when she finally did she found it burned a trail way down into her stomach, it was so much more powerful than when she had just been sipping at it. Her features creased as though she were almost in pain and she felt the low rumble of Daryl's amusement beside her. Opening her eyes she coughed, "Jesus Christ!"

That was the most Daryl had ever heard her curse and he wasn't about to miss his opportunity to mock scold her for doing it in front of Judith, as she had to him so many times before.

"Bethany! Yer Daddy never taught you to take the Lords name in vain!" Daryl revelled in teasing her covering Judith's ears while she sat happily in his lap.

Beth grinned at his audacity, "No he didn't! Her Daddy did!" she pointed towards Judith.

They both knew she wasn't referring to Rick, but Daryl himself. Normally they'd not make light of the matter, but both decided to enjoy the moment, just this once.

Beth didn't miss the affectionate look he gave her in response, it lasted longer than it should have, their sudden inebriation making them both feel somewhat brave.

They stayed a while longer, the bottle of Grey Goose occasionally got passed around for refills, banter was light-hearted and no one mentioned it but it felt a like old times, like restbite from all the horrors the world held these days.

"No more for me…" Beth placed a dainty hand over her cup, "…it's way past Judith's bed time, and mine!"

"Want me to come up with ya?" Daryl looked up at her as she stood and bent down to take Judith out of his lap. For some reason Beth felt her cheeks flush at such an innocent question, "Nah, it's ok, it's still kinda early, stay here if you want."

Something akin to disappointment clouded Daryl's features for a moment and Beth quickly denounced that it must be down to the drink. Shuffling past him best she could with Judith in her arms she bid everyone good night.

**TWD*TWD*TWD* TWD*TWD*TWD* TWD*TWD*TWD* TWD*TWD*TWD* TWD*TWD*TWD***

She laid in bed but sleep wouldn't come, she'd toyed with the idea of placing herself on the couch but it seemed silly being as Daryl probably wasn't going to return to their room any time soon, and when he did he'd be in no fit state to notice if she was on the couch or not. The hectic hours they had kept since their arrival had meant that they'd not really had to concern themselves with sleeping arrangements. Daryl took the bed in the day after his look out duty at night and Beth slept a few hours at night, if she could.

For some reason she felt a melancholy kind of sadness settle upon her. It always happened, in any brief moments when she was alone or unoccupied. Thanks to Judith those were few and far between now. She figured it'd be ok to cry whilst no one was around. She wept into the pillow, crying for every reason she could think of, she missed her Daddy, she missed Maggie, Glenn, Carol, Carl, everybody. Now she'd gone and acquired new people to miss too, in Anna, Jeanette and Joe.

She only realised she'd dropped off to sleep by the fact that she was woken, quite abruptly by Daryl walking into the foot of the bed, stubbing his toe and cursing into the darkness, "Goddamn it!"

Her eyes flicked open, she blinked her vision trying to adjust to the dark. The only light was streaming in from the corridor outside.

"Stoopid fucking…thing" Beth could vaguely make out Daryl trying to fight his way out of his shirt, by the sounds of it the shirt was winning.

"Daryl are you drunk?" she croaked, her voice still horse from crying.

"Mmm…no! Takes more than a few shots o' vodka to get a Dixon drunk!" his accent was even thicker than usual, and he was most certainly drunk.

Even through the haze of booze Daryl could tell something wasn't right, he had an eye for detail and that went for his ears too, he could tell straight away that Beth was upset.

"Y'alright?" Daryl swayed slightly before bouncing down on to the bed beside her, not touching her but close enough that she could feel the steady warmth radiating off him.

"Am fine." Was the only answer he got. While Daryl Dixon did not claim to be an expert when it came to women he knew that, "I'm fine" roughly translated to, "I'm absolutely not fine".

He patted the pillow beside her face like he was tracking an animal and concluded, "What you bin cryin' for?"

"S'nothing, just thinkin' about stuff… everything."

"Thinkin'? Don't suppose that ever did anyone any damn good." he drawled beside her.

"Just thinkin' about everyone we lost. Lori…n' what are we gonna do if we don't find Glenn and Carl? What about Judith?" Beth knew she sounded stupid, her voice high pitched and threatening to break at any moment.

She could just about make out the outline of Daryl propping himself up on one arm to face her, "We're gonna find 'em…and if we don't Asskicker's still gonna be looked after ain't she? Jus' like she's looked after now."

"Doesn't seem right somehow, feels like I stole her or somethin'. It's wrong, me pretendin' I'm her Moma. Worst thing is, sometimes forget I'm not." Beth sobbed out her words, not caring if Daryl saw anymore.

"That's 'cause you ain't pretendin' nothin'. " Daryl spoke with such conviction, "We'll do everythin' we can to get 'er back to Rick. But if we can't she'll still have you and she'll still 'av me. Why should the kid do without a family just because the worlds gone to shit? It's s'all different now, we gotta do the best with the cards we been dealt. Trust me, I been doin' that my whole life!"

Even though her heart was still heavy, he'd done it again, offered her reassurance just when she needed it.

"Come 'ere." it was more of a command than a request, she felt him raise his arm, creating a space for her to scoot up next to him, to which she complied, wrapping her arms gratefully around his chest and settling her head under his chin.

She knew they would drift apart in the night, they'd wake up on opposite sides of the bed and they'd never speak of it. Daryl would wake with a stinking hang over and be cranky with her no doubt, but at that moment she clung on to him as though her life depended on it, and he clung back.


	5. Road Trip

Hi Everyone! Firstly, I have been totally over bowled by how kind everyone has been in this ship, you've been so kind and some of the reviews have really helped me shape where I'm taking the story. Thank you so much.

So this is chapter 5, hope you like it.

**Road Trip**

The following morning saw them pack everything they owned back in to the SUV and head back to the highway. Beth did the best she could to secure Judith's makeshift crib in the back seat with the seatbelt but the little girl wouldn't settle there. Eventually Beth had to give in and sit her on her knee in the front seat.

"Doesn't seem right this, her rolling around on my lap in the front seat. You reckon it's safe?" Beth pondered, trying to untangle one of Judith's starfish shaped hands out of her hair. The little girl was growing so fast, cutting teeth, getting heavier by the day.

"I'm pretty sure we ain't gonna get pulled over…" Daryl smirked from the driver's seat, not taking his eyes off the road.

"…besides my folks dragged me n' Merle around all over in our pick up when we were kids, never got strapped in or nothin', never came to any harm…least not from lack of seatbelts."

Unlike their journey that found them at the Maycroft weeks earlier they soon slipped into conversation. Over the long hours of driving they talked about the group, the people they had missed and hoped to find again, people they had lost. Eventually they were sharing stories of their childhoods. After a while Beth more or less just listened, she almost felt like she was goading Daryl with stories of her happy upbringing, they were such a stark contrast to his. Even his happy stories had a sad twist.

Daryl spoke more about his childhood to Beth, in the confines of the car than he ever had to anyone; it came as a surprise even to him. He hadn't set out to bare his soul to her but it seemed that once he'd started he couldn't stop.

Somehow it seemed easier to speak of such things when his eyes were set on the road and his hands were clasped on the wheel. That way he didn't have to deal with looking at her face, seeing the shock in those big blue eyes of hers.

Inwardly he considered that maybe he was telling her all this stuff because she had never asked it of him. He knew she'd seen his scars but she'd never pushed him to tell her about them, she'd minded her own business until he was ready and he appreciated that, she was a good listener.

Beth felt strangely honoured that he was speaking to her, she knew it didn't come easy. She also knew that the last thing he would want was her pity so she kept her voice level and her replies to a minimum, even though the stories of him as a child, being beaten and neglected broke her heart.

Somewhere on this bumpy journey of theirs she'd began to regard him as hers, _her _Daryl and her chest almost physically ached at the thought of him belted and caned. It was alien to her how anyone could do that to a child, she instinctively hung on to Judith a little tighter.

The further they got the more they noticed signs for an_, "Information Centre – 60 miles, 50 miles, 40 miles etc"_ thrown up on various trees and abandoned cars along the road. Beth had noticed them but didn't mention it, afraid to interrupt Daryl while he was speaking, if she said the wrong thing he'd never speak to her like this again.

"…so yeah, I know everyone thought he was a cold son of a bitch, and he was but Merle was the only one who ever gave two shits about me, s'why I couldn't leave 'im."

"I get that." Beth agreed her voice quiet and understanding.

They pulled into a disused gas station so that they could feed Judith, "You want me to drive for a while?" Beth offered digging through her holdall to fish out a bottle, momentarily throwing a pack of biscuits Daryl's way.

"You passed your test?" Daryl eyed her suspiciously.

"No, have you?" She shot back, offering him a defiant smile, "I can drive just fine, I grew up on a farm remember, I bin drivin' tractors with my Daddy since I was a kid, I don't need a bit of paper to say I can do it!"

"Jus wondered if yer little legs would reach the pedals is all!" Daryl mumbled through a mouthful of biscuit.

Beth punched a playful fist into his thigh, "I have a gun you know!" she warned dryly, placing Judith gently back into her crib on the backseat then taking a last look out of the passenger seat window before opening the door to walk around to the other side of the car.

On her route around the car she spied a walker; it was in a pitiful state even for the undead. Someone long since gone had clearly had some kind of tussle with it and it was now just a torso, using its hands to pull itself along. The creature reached its cold putrefying hand out to her ankle and almost by reflex she took her knife out of her belt and plunged it firmly into its skull with an audible grunt.

Daryl watched the whole thing from the passenger seat that he'd awkwardly scooted over to. The sight of sweet innocent Beth Greene effortlessly pummelling a walker lifted his spirits. She seemed older now, stronger too.

Beth bounded into the driver's seat as Daryl retrieved Judith from her crib, the kid really didn't like it in there. Daryl looked over to the young woman beside him with a faint sense of amusement and wonder, she was oblivious, busy cleaning walker brain off her knife on to the cars upholstery.

Feeling his eyes on her, her head snapped up at him, "What?"

"You've changed little girl." He shook his head but she could tell he approved.

Beth considered what he meant whilst watching him pop the bottle into Judith's mouth and nuzzle his face into her hair for a moment, "Haven't we all?" she replied taking a bite of her biscuit.

She watched him for a while longer, the silence between them comfortable, "It's amazing…" she drawled, not really meaning to say it outloud.

Daryl looked up from Judith, squinting at her through his messy hair, "What is?"

Beth paused, was it a good idea to speak her mind now? They had been getting on so well. _What the hell…_

"It's just…you. You're so good with her, always have been since day one. And yet you weren't shown any real affection as a kid yourself. But still, you just know what to do with her." She held her breath waiting for him to remind her that she knew nothing about him or at best brush off her compliment. 

Instead he looked down at Judith who was now more interested in playing with the buttons on his jacket than anything else and muttered a rather humble sounding, "Thanks…" he cast Beth a fleeting glance,"…'s easy really, I just think about how they were with me and I do the opposite. S'not exactly rocket science."

Every fibre in Beth's body told her to reach out and take a hold of him, there was so much she wanted to convey to him, and words didn't seem adequate. But she knew the man in front of her now, well enough to know he probably wasn't ready for that. Just as she had waited for him to speak to her about his past she would wait for him to reach out to her, if he ever wanted to.

"It's their loss Daryl…" Her voice was hardly louder than a whisper, "…they didn't see how lucky they were to have you, but we saw it. All of us."

As if someone had given him an electric shock Daryl spun around in his seat, "Best get goin' now, we're burnin' daylight."

Beth didn't need to be told that was the end of the conversation, she had clearly made him uncomfortable, he wasn't used to kindness and he didn't know how to react to it.

"Sure. Hey what do you make of all these, 'Information Centre' signs? They look pretty recent to me?" she did her best to change the subject.

" Dunno, doesn't figure in our plans, we can't afford to get waylaid. We stick to our route." Daryl confirmed, shuffling down into his seat a bit more, putting Judy over his shoulder.

Before long both were sleeping, quietly zzz'ing away beside her. Aside from the odd walker meandering by as they passed Beth could almost make believe this was a regular road trip. The type she envisaged herself having when she was a kid. She always figured she'd grow up, meet some guy, get married, have babies. _All the stuff that wasn't going to happen now_.

Despite her realisation Beth couldn't bring herself to feel forlorn, there was a kind of contentment in the moment.

Her buoyant mood was short lived when the car started to shake, jutting along a few yards before spluttering to a stop. Dead. She tried turning it over once, twice, three times but it wasn't happening, there was something wrong.

_Shoot_. Beth looked at the sleeping pair beside her, she would have to wake them, light was fading outside and they couldn't stay here for the night.

"Daryl…Daryl…DARYL!" He didn't as much as stir. Frustrated she leaned over and poked him in the side, she was rewarded by Daryl almost leaping out of his seat, banging his head on the roof of the car.

_Ticklish_ she mentally noted.

"WHAT THE HELL D'YOU DO THAT FOR?!" he bellowed, instantly waking Judith who shrieked at being so rudely awoken.

"It's the car - it won't start."

"So! Ya don't have ta jab at me, not when I got the baby!" his voice was whinier than he had intended, still slurry from sleep. He frowned, comforting Judith by mumbling soothing words to her.

"Oh don't be such a child! I barely touched you! " Beth's eyes rolled, _great they would both be cranky with her now._

"It's the car, it just stopped and it won't start up again. We ain't out o' gas, we've half a tank left."

Daryl looked down at the babe in his arms who was now drifting back to sleep, "Sorry Asskicker, gonna have to put you in baby jail for a while." He gently placed her back in the crib on the backseat.

"Come on, bring the flashlight. You got your gun right?"

Beth raised her t-shirt to show the gun and her knife safely secured in the waistband of her skinny black jeans.

Daryl tinkered under the bonnet for what seemed like hours, taking the opportunity to have a cigarette while he was out in the open air. Beth wondered if that was wise, so close to the engine of a car but knew better than to challenge him.

After eliminating everything else he could think of Daryl had to admit defeat," I reckon it's the spark plugs." He said slamming down the hood.

"So what does that mean?" Beth looked back at him clueless. She may have driven tractors but she'd never fixed any.

"Means we gotta find somewhere to stay, for tonight at least. I can probably get replacements, will have to lift them from some other car but I don't fancy our chances o' doin' that tonight. The lights fadin ' fast."

"That information centre place, we're gonna have to go there. We can't camp out not with Judy, no way, it's too dangerous... " Beth reasoned. Daryl looked doubtful, he was deeply mistrustful of anyone that wasn't one of his own.

"…I don't think it's far, we passed a sign that said it was five miles off not too far back. It's our best bet, we could easily manage that on foot."

As much as it pained him, Daryl knew Beth was right, he felt uneasy about introducing themselves to strangers, these signs had been put up with some care, and it could all be a trap. But they couldn't stay there in what was essentially a tin can, with a crying baby who would be like a beacon to walkers.

Sighing heavily into his hands he rubbed his face, "Okay, but we stick to our story right? We don't tell 'em nothin'"

She smiled up at him, relieved that he'd seen sense, "Sure, of course! Anyone asks, I'm Beth Dixon."

Satisfied with her response Daryl walked by her and casually placed a playful slap on her behind, "An' don't you forget it!"


	6. Promises

Hi Everyone! Sorry this chapter has taken AGES to write, I'm still not 100% happy with it, it's a little bit long but I can't cut it down without sacrificing important stuff so hopefully you'll stick with it.

Everyone had been amazingly generous with reviews, follows and favorites. Thank you so much. Honestly, you guys have kept me writing, I could have left it at this chapter because I just could not get inspired but you kept me going.

Fellow Bethyl shippers, here's chaper 6. xxx

**Promises.**

By the time they reached the fork in the road it was dark, so dark that Beth could hardly see her hand in front of her. She had secured Judith in a baby carrier that Anna had given to her before leaving The Maycroft, it was a shabby blue colour that had belonged to Aaron at one time. Beth didn't like to take it but Anna had insisted , thrusting the thing into Beth's hands as they left,

_"Aaron hardly fits in it now, and besides, I'd feel better knowing that you had it, knowing you could have both hands free of you needed them."_

Beth was so grateful of her new friend's selflessness as she walked with one hand clasped around the handle of her knife. Daryl was ahead of them slightly, crossbow positioned and ready to take down any stray walkers that crossed their paths.

Eventually they came to a clearing, but Beth's stomach flipped at the familiar moans and groans of walkers. Aside from the now familiar sound, there was also a distant rattle of chains.

Daryl stopped dead in front of her, causing them to almost collide.

"What? What is it?" Beth questioned but she received no answer.

Her brow furrowed as Daryl shone the flashlight into the direction of the sound.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Beth reached out to cover the ray of light but Daryl's height advantage stopped her from doing so.

"Daryl they're walkers! What the hell?!" Beth panicked confused as to why she had to point out the obvious.

Still Daryl did not respond to her pleas, "That's fuckin' genius!" he murmured, nodding in the direction of the walkers.

With an impatient huff Beth now positioned herself at his side, "What is? What is it?"

Using his hands on her shoulders he moved her into his eye line, pointing her in the direction of the walkers, "Look at 'em!" he ushered, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Yes, I see! They're walkers…why are we just stood here? Why aren't we killing them?" Beth chided, her eyes not seeing what was right in front of them.

"They're not walkers, they're repellent. Look at them, they're chained! No arms, no jaws. They can't hurt us and they'll throw off the scent of the livin' jus' by bein' there! Shit, why didn't I think o' that?!"

Beth took the flash light out of Daryl's hands and proceeded to investigate, he was right. There were a dozen or so walkers chained to the porch of an old dilapidated farm house, the chains were secured around their necks and torsos, but whilst she would normally expect gnashing teeth and clawing hands there were none, someone had systematically removed their jaws and severed their arms above the elbows.

It seemed like such an obvious solution now it was right in front of her, "That's… gross but actually pretty clever! Who would do that?"

Daryl was now right behind her, somehow the heat radiating off of him eased her tired shoulders and she had to fight the urge to lean back on him further.

"Guess we're gonna find out, says it's an information center, might be worth asking after the others while we're here?" Daryl's breath crept into her hair as he spoke behind her.

"You think the others might have passed through here?!" Beth looked back to him, the youthful hopefulness back in her eyes for a moment.

"S' a possibility. We don't go tellin' them more than we need to though, right?"

Beth nodded her compliance as Daryl lead the way up the porch.

**TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD **

After a few tentative raps on a window and answering a few questions not so different to the three that Rick always asked everyone they were permitted admittance.

The hallway was lit by only a few candles, the place had clearly once been a family home, there were faded photographs still hung on the walls, birthdays, Christmas mornings, sad relics telling of a way of life that was no more. It didn't feel so different from Beth's childhood home, sure it was maybe smaller, and certainly rougher around the edges but the place had a welcoming atmosphere to it, despite the desperate circumstances.

They were greeted by an older gentleman who introduced himself as Brian, he seemed a reasonable sort. He listened patiently while Daryl explained their predicament regarding the car and very quickly agreed to let them stay the night when he saw Judith in Beth's arms.

"We don't have an awful lotta room left here, upstairs all the bedrooms are taken. But there's an attic room y'all can have for tonight, it ain't exactly the Ritz but there's a mattress, some blankets, you're welcome it. Then tomorrow once the others wake up and take their shift, we'll see if someone can't run ya into town, maybe get those spark plugs you need?"

Brian gestured for them to follow him in to the kitchen, they carried on their conversation as he set a small kettle over a camping stove on the work top.

"Other people?" Daryl questioned.

"Oh yeah, didn't think I'd done all this by myself did ya?" he chuckled. "Nope there's another half a dozen of us, fires brought them here, waifs and strays the lot of 'em."

Brian tinkered making coffee and Daryl watched him like a hawk ensuring it really was just coffee he was dropping into the cups, "Was the fires that broke us up from the rest o' our group, I guess that displaced a lot of people." He reasoned, trying not to draw attention to his mistrust. He knew this old timer was more than likely legit, he seemed just like Dale and Hershal had been, with their old fashioned values, always willing to be the Good Samaritan. But he wasn't taking any risks, not with Beth and Judith to take care of.

"Aye, they were fierce alright; I thought I was a goner. I had decided to go down with my ship when Darren and Susie showed up, couldn't turn them away, not with Ryan in tow, he's their young 'un." He paused placing two steaming cups of coffee before them both and one for himself. "Then George and his boy Billy, they came and helped me reinforce the place a bit. Then finally there was Michonne, our resident force o' nature! She was in a terrible state when she arrived. She went back to the fires twice to look for her people, but the flames chased her back." Brian shook his head in sympathy for Michonne, whom he clearly held in high regard.

Daryl did not miss Beth's expression light up at the mention of Michonne's name. He knew she had reached the same conclusion as he had, there weren't so many,"Michonne's" knocking about these days, it had to be_ their_ Michonne that Brian was waxing lyrical about.

Beth opened her mouth to announce their shared acquaintance but Daryl's boot kicked at her shins, not hard enough to hurt but certainly hard enough to catch her attention. Luckily Brian was too busy singing his groups praises like a proud father to notice Daryl discreetly shaking his head, signalling for Beth to shut the hell up.

After briefly raising his cup to his lips Brian continued his story, "It was her idea to start up the centre, even once the fires subsided she returned to the main highways and roads, checking every vehicle, putting an end to every biter she could. The boys wouldn't let her go alone and they figured they may as well make notes of what they found, in case it could help anyone." Brian stared in to his coffee cup, the familiar shadow of loss crossing his features briefly.

"Every last one of us had lost somebody. Someone has to start keepin' records again, like we did in the old days. Figured if we could help anyone out, help them find their loved ones while we were lookin' for ours it was worth doin'. Suppose it gave us a purpose."

"You have records? Of the people you found?" Beth asked the question, slightly apprehensive of the answer.

"Sure we do, we started with a few files, detailing the make and registration of the vehicles we found burnt out but then we moved on to describing bodies best we could. S'a pretty grim task but someone has to do it."

Beth's eyes flickered over to meet Daryl's, an unspoken understanding passing between them.

"Brian, would you mind if we looked through your records? Like Daryl said, we're looking for our group too, they were ahead of us when the fires broke out. We haven't seen them in over a month." Beth spoke in a quiet voice, unconsciously nuzzling her face into Judy's hair.

"Sure, you wanna wait till morning though? Lights not so good for reading now?" Brian gestured to the few candles lit before them on the oak kitchen table.

"I'd prefer to do it now, if you don't mind? My whole family were in our group, don't suppose I'd sleep much wondering if they were on your list, you don't have to stay with me, I won't keep any one up. I promise." Desperation was seeping through in her voice and for a moment Daryl was reminded of Beth's true age.

Brian rose from his seat at the table and ushered her to a side room, it might have once been a living room, there was flock wall paper on the walls, dusty and faded and a rug sprawling the floor. Beth envisaged happier times there, kids running around, grand-kids even. Brian seemed like the Grandfatherly type.

"We logged the vehicles road by road, they're all along this wall here. The…" he paused searching for the right word,"…people we found, we could only categorise them according to sex, race, age etc. They're listed in the blue files along the fireplace there?"

"Thank you." Beth paused, looking at the kindly old gent as he fussed around throwing a few logs on to the open fire place beside them, "I'll get yer a fire goin', generators kaput but there's still plenty of fire wood around. To think my old lady wanted to block this thing off and get one o' those new-fangled electric things! Oh Betty, would ya believe it? I was right about something…for once!" Beth assumed Betty was Brian's wife, she didn't comment but she hoped that Betty had passed before this all happened and that Brian hadn't had to see her ,'come back' or, 'put her down' in the way that they had been forced to do with members of their group all too often. It seemed a strange thing to wish for someone, but what wasn't strange these days?

"You don't have to do that, I'll be fine." Beth gestured to the fire that was already now being kindled.

"Nonsense, s'no trouble. Gets so drafty this old place." Brian fanned the flames and soon the room was lit somewhat brighter. Beth sat on the rug, surrounding herself with files, wondering where she was going to start.

"Well if y'all don't mind I'll get off to bed now." Brian clasped his hands together, satisfied with the fire he'd made.

Looking up from her spot on the rug Beth gave a thin smile,"Thank's again, for all you've done, really. You've been so good to us."

Just as he was about to exit Brian turned in the door way to face her, "Don't mention it. I was young once, had a wife and a baby to take care of. Heck, that was hard enough, without having to watch out for biters every corner you turned. No offence young lady but I hope you don't find what your lookin' for in those files. Your family, I hope they're someplace else looking for you just the same as you're looking for them."

Beth swallowed down any emotion that threatened to rise at the thought of Maggie and Hershal before responding, "Me too."

Brian retired to his bed and left Daryl stood in the doorway, a now sleeping Judith in his arms.

"You should get some rest too. S'gonna be a long day tomorrow." She coo'ed up to him as he moved a closer and knelt beside her.

"What you gonna do if you find 'em here?" he nodded towards the leaver arch file in her hands.

Beth stared at the black folder considering his question, she shrugged her shoulders and answered as honestly as she could, "I don't know."

"Jus' because someone abandons a car on a highway, don't mean they're dead…least of all our lot, they're tough motherfuckers, all of 'em." Daryl drawled, figuring he'd be forgiven his cussing as Judith was asleep.

She nodded in agreement, "I know that. I'd just rather know, either way. If I find anything I'll come get you, I promise."

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTW DTWD**

Daryl found his way up to the dusty attic and placed himself and Judith onto a carelessly placed mattress, it wasn't so bad, he'd slept in worse even before the world had descended into chaos.

He laid on his side, observing Asskicker, her little baby limbs spread out starfish style. For one small kid she sure took up a lot of room. Reaching out a daring hand he stroked his index finger over her outstretched palm only for her to grab onto it firmly in her sleep.

The corners of his mouth curled,_ 'Stronger than she looks, just like her Mama.'_

It took a few seconds for Daryl to realise his mistake, even inwardly now he regarded Beth as Judith's mother. He knew better than most that being a parent wasn't a matter of biology. He had watched Beth day after day, taking care of this baby that wasn't meant to be hers, feeding her, putting her needs before her own. When he really thought about it he found himself in awe of her. She was only seventeen when the dead started to attack the living, only just eighteen now._ Seventeen_. Damn, when Daryl was seventeen all he was good for was stealing cars and beating on anyone who looked at him the wrong way. Yet at that same age Beth had quietly took it upon herself to love a motherless child like she was her own, and she did it all without a word of complaint. She was amazing.

Before he knew it his weary eyes were closing on him, he still didn't like the idea of Beth being alone down stairs but he would only sleep for a while then go and check on her. She knew to yell if she needed him anyway.

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTW DTWDT**

Daryl woke with a start to the sound of the screen door slamming on the porch. Shit, he'd slept too long. It was dawn; the night was giving way to the morning light. He figured it must have been about six am.

Judith was still peacefully snoozing away beside him; it figured that the kid would choose now to start sleeping through the night. There was something blissfully calm about being in her presence, her contented snuffles and sighs as she slept reminded him that she was still oblivious to the mess that the world was in these days. He hoped she'd stay that way for as long as she could.

Deciding not to wake her yet he awkwardly pulled on his shirt and crept out of the room, shutting her in behind him.

He stepped into the room where he'd left Beth the night before. It looked like a bomb had dropped; files upon files were strewn around the room to the point that he could barely see the floor. Man she had really gone to town. But there was no Beth.

He scanned the hall and the kitchen, "Beth…Beth...Beth!"

His eyes gazed over to the porch door, it lead out on to some kind of back field, the type the Greene farm had once had. She knew better than to just go wondering , but the porch door had slamed.

Slinging his crossbow over his arm he set out to investigate. Calling out her name wasn't an option. He wasn't going to do anything that might attract walkers, especially with Judith asleep in the house.

If he wasn't mistaken there were a few Doc Martin boot prints leading across the way. It had taken Maggie days to convince Beth that they would be more suitable footwear than her cowboy boots ,"The world just ended Beth, you can't go 'round dressed like a member of the damn Dixy Chicks!Just put these on would you?!" he could almost hear Maggie's voice ringing in his ears.

He followed her tracks down to a big old oak tree. He was cautious, these were exactly the kind of places you got jumped out on by walkers if you weren't careful. Once he'd cleared the tree he could make out Beth's petite frame ambling across the field a head of him, footsteps fast paced and her hands clenched into fists by her side.

Speeding up to catch her he began to call her name under his breath, "Beth…Beth, Beth stop it's me!" he was closing in on her, his strides larger than hers but still she didn't respond to him, "Fucks sake Beth what the hell is wrong with you?!"

Thoughtlessly he reached out to take a hold of her shoulder, she span around the moment his skin touched hers, as she faced him he took in the sight of her. Her round cherub face was wet with tears, and her eyes were red raw. Her voice was lost from crying and she held crumpled up file papers in her hands.

Daryl swallowed hard and placed his other hand on her opposite shoulder to steady her. Steeling himself he tried to keep his voice level," What? What did ya find?"

Wordlessly she passed the papers towards him, clumsy hands pressing them onto his chest as his hands refused to let go of her.

She wanted to speak but the only sounds she was capable of making were pathetic squeaks and sobs.

Daryl tried his best to uncrumple the file paper and read its contents.

_'White male, approx. 65 years old. White hair, white beard. Left leg amputated before death. White shirt, dark brown pants, braces._

_Found next to white female, approx.25 years old. Red shoulder length hair. 5ft 7" tall. Black t-shirt, black khaki pants.'_

The second piece of paper listed vehicles, Daryl scanned down the registration numbers until he reached the pick-up that he'd seen Rick and Carl clamber into the last time he saw them. _Burnt out, no bodies._

His stomach dropped and he bit his lip until the metallic tang of blood trickled on to his toung.

Hershel and Maggie were dead.

Rick and Carl were on foot, how far would they have got while the fires raged?

"Where…" he paused to clear his throat, realising that speaking wasn't going to come easy to him,"…was there anythin' else relatin' to the others? Carol, Glen…any of 'em? "

Beth shook her head, her eyes unwilling to meet his, she seemed so distant even though she was right there in front of him. Calmly she turned her back again and started walking, a very purposeful one foot in front of the other march.

"Beth? Where you goin'?" he called to her but she was too numb with grief to really hear.

"Beth, please just stop for a minute! It's not safe, you know that! " Daryl's voice rattled around her head like an echo. Everything semed so far away now.

Setting off after her again Daryl stuffed the papers into his pocket. At that moment he would have given almost anything to have Rick there, he was the one who could hold shit together, or Carol, or Maggie, Hershal , Glen. Any one of them to just make her listen to him right now.

When he was a kid some cleaver doctor lady had once told him he had,"Abandonment Issues" during his last stint in Juvie, was there any wonder? The minute he started to get attached to anyone they walked away from him, granted not always in quite such a literal way as Beth was doing but it all amounted to the same thing. Something long since buried in him awoke, it was a fear. Not of walkers, not even of dying but of being left alone.

"SO WHAT?!" he yelled, feet stalking after her, "YOU LOSE PEOPLE AND THE FIRST THING YOU DO IS BAIL ON THE ONES YOU STILL GOT?! GET YOUR SCRAWNY ASS BACK 'ERE!"

Still her feet trampled the field, her arms folded in front of her.

"HOW CAN YOU DO THIS! SHE NEEDS YOU, WHAT'S JUDITH GONNA DO WITH OUT YOU?" he called out to her, he voice breaking slightly.

_What am I gonna do without you?_

"GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER BETH WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS!"

He was about to admit defeat, tears stung his eyes as he realised she wasn't going to listen, "YOU DON'T GET TO BE UPSET!" the words were spat out of his mouth as he allowed a few tears to fall, it's not like she was looking at him anyway.

Beth heard that, she felt that. Daryl's pleading voice throwing her father's words back at her punched her in the gut.

Her legs gave out as a renewed wave of grief raged through her. Sinking to her knees and then on to her back in the grass she sobbed a new, covering her face with her forearm. As though all of her senses were switched back on all at once she felt the weight of it all settle upon her. It hurt _so_ much, and worse she was ashamed of running away, how could she have thought to leave them? Truth was she hadn't been thinking at all.

Before she uncovered her eyes she felt herself being lifted, rather roughly into an embrace. Daryl had hooked his arms under her legs and around her back. He pulled her into his lap and they sat together in the middle of the field for a few minutes, he waited patiently for her to get her tears under control. If she wasn't mistaken his chest heaved a few times too, he buried his face in her hair, clinging on to her tightly the way he had done during their last night in The Maycroft.

Beth was the first to break the silence, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." she whispered lightly, had they not been so close he'd not have heard. "…I just…I just wanted to run, but I wasn't running from you or Judith, I was just runnin', you know?" she rested her head on his collar bone.

"Mmm…" was the only sounds she received in response, Daryl still didn't trust his voice not to crack with emotion.

"They were the last of my family and now they're gone. I know I haven't seen them in weeks and we knew there was a chance that we wouldn't find them but seeing them described like that, on a bit of paper, it hit me. My family's gone, there's none of 'em left. "

Beth felt the words rise through Daryl's body before he even spoke them, "Join the club. I don't have no family left either, not that I had much to start with."

Realisation crept over her, it wasn't until she'd experienced her own loss that she could truly understand Daryl's. Even when she'd lost her mother, she'd still had Maggie and her Father. Merle had been all Daryl ever had and he'd had to stick a knife into his head himself. He'd come back that day and gotten on with things, from what she recalled the whole event passed by unmentioned by any of the group, save for maybe Carol.

Her arms had somehow found their way around his waist and she wasn't inclined to move them just yet, "We could be your family..." She knew it sounded cheesy, like something she read in a book some place but she was sincere,"…me and Judith."

Daryl wanted no more than to hide, he was useless with all this stuff. Emotions scared him, he'd much rather kill a deer for someone or save their ass from a walker to let know he cared than have to speak words out loud. That aside he knew he had enjoyed her pretending that they were a family more than he should have done, he had grown strangely accustom to it.

"Y' already are. Have bin for a while." he spoke in a matter of fact tone, trying to make it sound as though it was no big deal. "No more runnin' off though, ya hear me?"

A pang of guilt struck in Beth's stomach, she reached out a gentle hand to swipe the hair out of his eyes, not that it stopped him squinting any,"No more runnn', I promise." she assured, wanting him so badly to know that she meant it.

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTW DTWDT**

They walked back into the Information Center to be greeted by the sight of a rather rumpled looking Michonne, Judith rested on one hip, she was trying to negate the child into letting go of a dread she had gotten a hold of. Despite Judith yanking at her hair her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree at the sight of Beth. Despite her grief Beth couldn't help but smile genuinely in response, "I knew it would be you! When Brian said,last night. I knew it had to be you!"

The two rushed into an embrace and Judith giggled her sweet little baby laugh at being sandwiched between them, "You can get your ass over here too Rambo!" Michonne demanded reaching an arm out to Daryl, who coyly reached back, glad to see his old comrade.

Brian was by the stove once again making coffee, he had watched the whole thing unfold dumbfounded, "You guys know one another?"

"These guys were part of the group I was lookin' for Bri…" Michonne exclaimed more gleeful than Beth had ever seen her,"…man, I thought I'd lost you all." the joy slipped out of her voice a little as she obviously knew of Hershel and Maggie's fate.

"We know Michonne, we saw. We know they're gone." Beth looked back at her friend tentatively, "Thank you for looking for them. "

Briefly tears filled both of their eyes, Beth was unwilling to let the flood gates open again and reached out to Judith, "Better get this one fed and changed I guess!"

Judith reached out her chubby arms instinctively towards Beth and she wondered how she could ever have contemplated walking away from that. That kind of love was a privilege.

As she leaned in to take the child, Michonne hugged her again, speaking into masses of messy blonde hair she sighed, "Beth Greene, girl you are a sight for sore eyes."

"Dixon." Beth corrected, heading for the doorway, Daryl hot on her heels.

Michonne's eyes narrowed with confusion, "Huh?"

"Beth Dixon. I'm Beth Dixon now."


	7. Stuff and Things

Hey All! Ok, so here's chapter 7, it was a bit easier to write than chapter 6 I can tell you! For the most part I think this is a more light hearted chapter. I have **Zombiecinema** and **Bestbuds55** the credit for prompting a couple of the scenes, so thank you guys so much for your input! You're generous and generally awesome.

And thank you to everyone again for reading and reviewing, I really hope you like where the story is going, you guys really spur me on.

**Stuff and Things.**

True to his word Brian handed over the keys to a vehicle and asked George and Billy to go with Daryl into the nearest town to try and locate supplies, including the spark plugs required to get the SUV back up and running.

George struck him as the fatherly type; Billy his son seemed a little bit more of a hot head, always running his mouth. The kid had the same kind of spirit as Carl but not the same manners.

Billy seemed to rattle around in the back seat while Daryl drove trying to take note of George's directions to town. He had made the fatal error of placing his crossbow in the back seat and from the rear view mirror he could see the Billy fiddling around with it.

"'ey kid! Quit messin' around with that, I'd much rather get this run done without an arrow in my ass!" Daryl called over his shoulder.

"I'm only lookin'!" Billy griped in a most childlike way.

George shook his head, every inch the strung out parent, "Enough of the answering back Bill, pack it in!"

The boy looked offended, "I'm not a kid! I'm sixteen for God's sake!"

"Exactly!" George exclaimed, giving his son a look that said, _'Don't make me come back there_!'

Daryl bit his lips together to try and suppress a smirk.

There was a moody silence in the back seat for all of about ten seconds but the boy clearly couldn't keep it up, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"So, the little blonde girl you're with? What's her name?" Billy asked, simultaniously drumming his fingers in the most irritating rhythm imaginable on the back of Daryl's seat.

"You mean Beth?" Daryl bit out from behind gritted teeth.

"Sure - Beth. She's cute! Are you her Dad or somethin'?"

The kid knew what he was doing; he seemed the type to wilfully poke a bear with a stick, just to get a reaction.

George shot Daryl an apologetic glance, "Billy, can it! I ain't kiddin' now!"

"I'm just askin'? Am I not allowed to speak now?!" the boy raised his hands in surrender.

George opened his mouth to chastise him again but before he could speak Daryl butted in.

"She ain't my daughter, she's …"he paused considering what he was about to say,"…my wife."

"REALLY?! SERIOUSLY? Wow." Billy made out like he couldn't believe what he was being told.

Daryl's grip tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles were white, he knew the brat was more than likely just bored and that he shouldn't rise to it but he was beginning to get under his skin.

"But you guys don't have rings or nothin'?, " Billy pressed on, not knowing what was good for him.

With a roll of his eyes Daryl forced himself to come up with an explanation, "Yeah well, we didn't exactly have a lot o' time to pack, just had to get essential shit together an' go."

Daryl could see from his view in the rear mirror that Billy still wasn't buying his story. In true Dixon fashion he had to think on his feet. _What would make this pain in the ass shut up?_

"But don't people just wear their wedding rings like, all the time?"

"Not in the shower they don't." Daryl crooned smoothly, pulling into a shopping precinct parking lot.

"So you were in the shower when you suddenly had to leave your house?" Billy sniped with a sceptical tone.

Daryl sighed hard, raising one hand off the wheel as he parked, "Correct."

"What? _Both of you?"_ Billy laughed, convinced he'd found a flaw in Daryl's story.

As dryly as he could Daryl turned around to look at the boy directly in the face and winked, " Tell y'all about it when you're older kid."

The boys mouth snapped shut as if it were operated on springs, his face blushing red until the colour reached his ears.

With a satisfied smirk Daryl took they keys out of the ignition and stepped out of the car.

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD**

Determined to make herself useful Beth offered to assist Michonne with planting some runner beans and tending to the small plot of crops that the group had started to grow. She couldn't quite get used to the groaning sound of the chained walkers, although Michonne assured her that after a while it just became background noise.

Beth dug her trowel into the soil, her blonde tresses pulled back from her face save for a few errant strands, "Never had you down as a gardener!" she grinned up at Michonne.

Michonne rolled her eyes in amusement, giving a cursory glance around to check that no one else was around she nudged closed to Beth, "And I never had you down as Mrs Daryl Dixion neither? Care to explain?!"

Beth smiled coyly, "Oh yeah that…"

"Yeah that! Brian thinks you're married!" Michonne pointed back towards the kitchen door behind them, her face suddenly changed as a new unconsidered possibility crossed her mind,"…are you?! Are you guys married, where, how?!"

Beth held up her hands at the barrage of questions spilling out of Michonne's mouth.

"Whoa, calm down. No, 'course we're not married." Beth's features creased into a giggle. "We ended up having to stop off at this place, an old hotel; it's a day's drive back down south. Judith was running a fever and they seemed like nice people but we couldn't take any chances so we told them we were a family so we could stay together. I was worried they might try n' take her off me if they knew the truth."

Michonne nodded her head a small knowing smirk on her face, "So why keep up with it here?"

"Same reasons, we didn't know you were here, we never laid eyes on Brian before. It just seemed safer somehow." Beth was just pushing the soil around with her trowel now, trying to avoid Michonne's expression.

"And now?" Michonne pressed on.

Beth looked back wide eyed, pretending not to know what the older woman was getting at.

"Don't give me that look, that sweet innocent Southern Belle stuff doesn't wash with me…" Michonne scoffed at Beth's attempt at avoiding her question.

"…you don't have to keep it up now. You're safe here, you know that. So why keep up the lie?"

Beth squirmed, suddenly uncomfortable, "It's not an outright lie…"

"So you guys have a _thing?_" Michonne interjected, not letting Beth finish her sentence.

"Well no, not like that. Nothing's happened. There's no _thing _as you put it." Beth's fists now pulled at the grass she sat on, her trowel long since forgotten.

"Oh, well thank God for that because I was hoping to have a piece of that myself now we're back under the same roof and all. Had my eye on him back at the prison truth be told. I mean, have you seen those arms of his? I swear they got bigger, damn." Michonne spoke in a matter of fact tone, still turning over the soil.

In an instant Beth's face dropped and her nostrils flared ever so slightly of their own accord. There was no way in hell she was about to see Michonne get with Daryl, right under her nose, that would be unbearable. She felt sick at hearing someone speak about him in that way, he was more than his God Damn arms for a start. No one knew him like she did!

Before Beth could gather her words together in her head Michonne looked up at her from her work with a devilish grin, her cool composure giving way, "You're face!" she pointed her trowel in Beth's direction, "It's a picture! Oh man, I wish I had a camera." She dropped the trowel and clapped her hands before her hands went to hold her sides, _presumably to stop them from splitting_.

Throwing a gardening glove in her friends general direction Beth huffed, realising that Michonne had just tricked her into realising her true feelings for Daryl, "Oh, quit it will you! I liked it better when you were the strong and silent type!" Beth could barely get her words out between embarrassed laughs of relief.

"Oh come on, someone had to get you to admit it! I've only been with you guys a few hours and even I could see a change." Michonne dropped some seeds into the small holes she'd dug, her hair falling over her face.

Beth blushed, raising her hands to her cheeks in an attempt to cool her burning face.

"Change? What change?"

Michonne once again lifted her eyes to meet Beth's, "Oh come on, you're not still that green are surely?"

Beth shook her head slightly back at her, her expression blank.

Michonne sat back on her haunches, slapping her hands down on to her thighs in exasperation, "It's the way he is with you, how you are with him. The looks, the touches, I dunno…" she paused, wanting to articulate what she saw between the both of them,"…it's the chemistry. You two seem to talk without speaking. You weren't like that before."

In a truly girlish manner Beth hid her face with one hand and when she found the courage to remove it her face was plastered with the biggest grin Michonne had seen in months.

"That grin…" Michonne pulled herself up to her feet and went to retrieve something from the house,"…that grin right there tells me it's very much a _thing!_"

Beth chuckled up from where she was sat, "It's not! There is no _thing!" _she called as Michonne disappeared into the kitchen.

She thought she had been left alone until Michonne yelled back at her, "You keep tellin' yourself that Sister!"

Beth lay back in the grass for a while and watched the clouds like she had done when she was a kid. After a few minutes contemplation she groaned up to the sky, one foot kicking at the grass beneath her.

_Oh Lord Michonne was right…it was a thing!_

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD**

By the time Daryl, George and Billy returned from their run it was dark. The trip had been a successful one and most importantly a safe one, but it was too dark to attempt to change the spark plugs on the SUV. They would have to stay another night and head back to their vehicle in the morning.

Talk turned to their plans, where would they go now? Neither of them had given it much thought, the last 48 hours had been a blur.

"I know it's not much, but you could stay here?" Brian offered up, "There's safety in numbers; the smaller the group the greater the danger and we know you'd pull your weight. Y'all ready have."

Beth looked at Daryl and Daryl back at Beth, "Thanks Brian. That's so kind of you, it's just I guess we were still kind of hopeful of finding the rest of our group." she explained, trying not to sound ungrateful.

"What's your plan? Where you headed? You know the snows will be coming soon?" Brian queried, he was a practical man.

"At the minute I guess we don't really have a plan…" Beth fidgeted with Judith's toy bunny that the little girl had discarded in her lap before abandoning her to go and sit on Michonne's lap.

Brian huffed at her response,"I mean this with the greatest respect honey but you kids need to get a plan. It's a big ass world, your friends could be anywhere. It's my understandin' that Michonne's been looking for the same people for the last month or so and come up with nothin'."

The weight of their situation seemed to rest on her shoulders a little more with every word Brian spoke. She knew he was right.

Wearily she nodded her agreement, "When we left The Maycroft…"

"The what? " Michonne interjected, "The Maycroft?" her eyes darting around the others in the group.

"That was the name of the hotel, the group that took us in, they set up there. Why, what's wrong?" Beth's voice was strained with concern; _they had friends back at The Maycroft_.

Michonne placed Judith down on the rug to play, her expression was serious.

"Look, I don't know if it means anything. We don't have any proof but we think the fires were started by the Governor. He wanted to stop our group from getting very far and he wanted to stop the remaining residents of Woodbury escaping too. There were empty gasoline canisters up and down the highway, and all this gloopy accelerant stuff too, designed to do maximum damage. It was obvious the fires were started on purpose, they sure as hell weren't no act of God."

Daryl chewed at his thumb nervously, piecing together the puzzle in his head, "Makes sense…son of a bitch."

Looking between Michonne and Daryl Beth was still trying to understand the situation, "But what about The Maycroft, how did you know about it?"

Michonne sensed Beth's worry and her tone begged for calm, "It might not mean anything but we found a truck, like the Military ones they used at Woodbury, I recognised it straight away. There were blueprints in the back, architect drawings of a place called The Maycroft."

Beth's eyes grew wide.

Michonne reached out and took a hold of Beth's free hand, sensing her unease," They had itinerates, they knew this place was well stocked and I dunno, maybe they wanted to take it for themselves? But maybe they were delayed themselves by the fires? I'm only speculating. Whatever their plans were they don't have their blueprints, I brought them back here with me."

Michonne's words held hollow comfort, Beth was naive but she sure as hell knew that the Governor wouldn't let the lack of blueprints stop him from taking what he wanted. By force if necessary.

Pressing his thumbs deep into his eye sockets Daryl lifted himself from his seat,"I need a damn cigarette."

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD**

Beth found him out on the porch, cigarette in hand. She leaned beside him in silence for a moment, looking out over the field where they had sat together a day before. The moon was big tonight and if it weren't for the chained up walkers making their racket Beth could have pretended for a moment that everything was normal.

"You ok?" she asked her voice soft and Southern as ever.

Daryl leaned onto the porch railing,"Gotta be."

"You don't have to be ok with me, maybe with the others, but not me " She wasn't sure where that came from, maybe she wanted to be strong for him for once.

Without thought he leaned in to her warmth, side by side until their arms were touching, "I'm just tired. Sick o' losing people ya know?"

She looped her arm in his and rested her head against his bare bicep. "Yeah, I know."

They stood in easy silence for a few moments before Beth noticed something new, "That's pretty." She gestured to silver band on his finger, "I haven't seen that before, did you swipe that today at the store? Regular little magpie aren't you?" she nudged him playfully trying to avoid the smoke of his cigarette and get a better look.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Daryl moved slightly, holding his cigarette in his mouth as he patted down his pockets, "_Billy the kid_ in there was givin' me some shit about us not havin' wedding bands. Brat didn't believe we were married, figured other people might come to the same conclusion." the words came out muffled with a cigarette in their way.

Beth struggled to tug down the corners of her mouth; she might be young and green as some though but even to her this sure seemed like a lot of trouble to go for to appease, _'other people'_.

"There!" he announced triumphantly as he retrieved a white gold, or maybe it was silver band out of the pocket of his Levi's, "So I figured I'd make an 'onest woman of ya…" he joked, "…didn't know what size ta get so I jus went for the smallest I could see. Didn't 'av a lot of time."

Suddenly a little stifled by the enormity of the situation Beth resorted to teasing, "Aww, you went a stole me a ring! Thank you!" she beamed up at him, sliding the ring on her wedding band finger. _It fit._

He seemed relieved that she had lightened the mood, happily going along with her jest, " It's not steelin', technically it's lootin'. Jus be grateful I didn't swipe it off a passing walker like Glen with Maggies!"

Beth's head shot down at the mention of her sister's name, she fixed her eyes on her new ring adjusting it, trying to get used to the feel of it on her finger.

Instantly Daryl realised what he'd done, he'd not meant to mention her sister so soon, he still had a hard time himself believing she was dead, "Shit. Beth 'am sorry. I'm one thoughtless fucker sometimes."

"It's ok, we have to mention them to remember them…" She assured him, "…guess I'm just sick o' losin' people too." She shot him her most defiant smile.

He looked down at her, still fiddling with that damn ring like it was the best thing anyone had ever given to her.

"Ain't gonna lose me, stuck with me now." He dug his hands deep in his pockets, because maybe if he didn't they'd do something he might regret later.

Beth looked up at him again, their height difference all the more apparent for their proximity, "Careful Dixon, I'd kiss you if I could reach!" her voice was equal measures mirth and flirtation.

His hands were out of his pockets quicker than her eyes could comprehend and in an instant he had grabbed a hold of her, lifting her up into his arms until her legs had no choice to wrap around his waist. She squeaked quietly, the least convincing sound of protest he'd ever heard. Her arms found their way firstly around his neck before trailing upwards and tangling her fingers in his shaggy hair.

She looked into his eyes for a second, she daren't look at him any longer than that or her brain was going to get the better of her and drop her heart right in it.

Making good of her threat she craned her head down to kiss him, placing her lips roughly to his, the exhilaration of the moment dashing her doubts and fears. Suddenly she was kissing him like she had wanted to do it for weeks, maybe months. All that longing, all that emptiness, the ache inside her that she couldn't put her finger on, for once it was gone.


	8. A Night Like This

Hey Guys! I'm so sorry that this chapter took an age and also it's kinda short, I have more to come it's just this one had to end where it did. Thank you all so much again for all the feedback, I love hearing which parts you like about the story and where you want to see it go, I do take all of that on board and I'm hoping to incorporate some of your suggestions into future chapters.

Again, you guys are always so lovely, The bethyl ship is one fandom I am very honoured to be part of.

**A Night Like This**

"I'm coming to find you if it takes me all night  
Can't stand here like this anymore  
For always and ever is always for you  
I want it to be perfect  
Like before"

-A Night Like This (The Cure)

Wordlessly they returned back to the farmhouse and back to the group as though nothing had happened between them. Beth's lips still burned from their kisses and her mind whirled at what had just taken place. She had kissed him! And he'd kissed back! She'd never kissed anyone like that before. With Jimmy it had always been innocent, fumbling clumsy mouths, knocking teeth and utterly sexless whereas kissing Daryl was quite the opposite. She felt like a fire had been lit inside her and good God it was raging!

And what did it mean? We're they together now or was it just a heat of the moment kinda thing? Would he want more? Would she?

This tirade of questions rattled on through Beth's mind as the others discussed The Maycroft and debated if they ought to go back there and check the place was still secure. Michonne longed to put a bullet between the Governor's eyes more than ever. Beth's attention was pricked when Daryl mentioned heading back on his own, just to check that everything was alright.

"Chances are it's nothin'. Michonne found the blue prints of the place weeks ago, that said we know good people are back there, they helped us when we needed it most. I ain't about to forget that. I could head back there, just give 'em a heads up that they might need to tighten up their defences, put on extra look outs and get my ass back here. Should take me two days max."

Beth shot him a disgruntled look, "And what happened to sticking together huh? Nope, no way, if you go, I go!"

Daryl's eye twitched a little, he'd heard about women once they got a ring on their finger, but he'd not quite expected her to be reading him the riot act so soon. "We can't take Judith, it's not safe, ya know that, she needs you, so you stay 'ere. I'll be fine, you know I will."

Beth bit her lip, she wanted to challenge him, make him change his mind but she couldn't argue with his reasoning, they couldn't risk taking Judith back there, not if the Governor was around. Her stomach lurched at the thought of being parted from him, aside from the curious new developments in their relationship he and Judith really were all she had left.

"I don't like it..." she said with a defeated tone of reservation,"...you shouldn't be going on your own."

George nodded his head as though answering an unspoken question, "I'll go with 'im, if it'll stop you fretting."

Before Beth could answer Billy intercepted, "We'll if you're going so am I, right? Right Dad?" the boy looked to his Dad for assurance.

"Nope no way, s'not safe and besides you damn near drove me crazy on the run today, I ain't got it in me to deal with two days of that! Sorry kid" Daryl quickly dashed any idea of Billy coming with them, he knew if the Governor had taken The Maycroft he wouldn't have time to look out for passengers.

"I'M NOT A KID AND YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Billy bit straight back at Daryl.

George shot an almost apologetic look to his son, "Daryl's right Bill, whoever this Governor character is, I don't want you within ten feet o' him. We already lost yer Ma, I'm not losin' you. You'll stay here."

The boy huffed in frustration, the mention of his mother clearly bothered him, "This is bullshit! You want me to stay here with the old man, the baby and the teen mom over there! You gotta be kidding me!"

"Hey I'm twenty two!" Beth's brow creased in indignation, she really was starting to believe her own rouse.

"You better watch that mouth of yours Sunshine, it's gonna get yer ass kicked!" Daryl raised an accusatory finger in the boys direction.

"Hey come on now can we all just calm the hell down?" George pleaded, "Billy I ain't discussing this with you no more, you can sulk all you want. You wanna prove to me you're not a kid, you start listening to me and acting like a grown man, then maybe I'll start treating you like one."

Biting his lip as though internally wrestling with what he really wanted to say Billy stormed past the group and stomped up the stairs.

"That's settled then, we leave at first light. Michonne, you ok to drop us at the SUV? I got the spark plugs, shouldn't take me long ta fix em." Daryl concluded.

"Sure. You sure you don't want an extra pair of hands? You know I'm willing to go above and beyond where that son of a bitch is concerned."

Daryl considered it for a moment, Michonne was a formidable fighter, but he needed someone back here who could handle themselves, he knew Beth and Asskicker would be safe with her around. "No, s'good, we got it. You're needed here. If I see him, I'll give him your regards."

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD**

When Judith finally succumbed to sleep Beth crept up to the attic, she'd settled the baby in Michonne's room tonight, knowing that Daryl needed a good nights sleep if he was going to be gone at first light.

Gently she sat on the mattress, hoping not to wake him, the room was dark but there was a big moon tonight and she could still see his sleeping form quite clearly. There he was laying on his front as he nearly always did hands under his pillow, hair soft and messy over his face. He was beautiful.

Beth marvelled at herself, how had it taken her so long to see it? Her mother had said once that sometimes when you meet someone you might not think so much of them at first glance but over time all the little bits that make them who they are make them beautiful, until they're the most beautiful person you know, and no one can compare to them. That's how it was for her with Daryl. She loved every flurry of temper, every curse word, every scar, every badly done tattoo.

All the little imperfections that somehow made him perfect.

Almost as though he could hear her thoughts he began to stir, his eyes blinking open lazily,"S'matter?" he drawled, "You gonna get in bed or what?" He asked it like they had been bed fellows for months, fact was they'd very rarely found themselves faced with the prospect of having to share a bed.

"Sure, I guess..." she said hesitantly, she deftly pulled on an old t-shirt and undressed beneath it.

Placing herself on her side on the mattress facing him, she huddled her arms over her chest, pulling the covers up to her chin. "Daryl..."

"Mmm?" he answered without bothering to open his eyes.

"You are coming back aren't you?" she hated herself for sounding so needy, but she had to know. She needed to know that this wasn't Daryl leaving her somewhere he knew her and Judy would be safe and going off on his own.

His piercing blue eyes shot open and straight away she saw the hurt in them, "Of course 'am comin' back?!" he gasped propping himself on one arm facing her. "How can ya even ask me that? What you think 'am jus gonna ditch you an Judy with a bunch o' strangers? Haven't you learnt anythin' about me? All this time? Seriously? Fuck!"

He was mad. She'd offended him, hit a nerve something terrible. "I'm sorry, Daryl..."

"Did it mean nothing to ya? What I said tonight? Were you even listenin'? I told you I'm not goin' anywhere! Is this some fucking game to you?" He continued his tirade in as quiet-a tone as his iron will would allow him.

"Stop it! Stop denouncing me as a child when it suits you! Of course it's not a game to me!" Beth felt like jabbing him, she was sorry for doubting him but talking down to her was a sure fire way to grind her gears.

Daryl scoffed into the darkness, "Jesus Beth, I'm painfully aware yer not a child!"

"What does that mean?" she slapped her hands against the mattress in frustration.

"Ya know what I mean! Why do ya have to make everything so difficult all the damn time?" Daryl chided, his jaw tight.

"Me? I ..." before she could defend herself she felt her hand being yanked under the covers and down to his boxer shorts, she gasped as he laid her hand firmly onto his ridiculously hard dick, only the cotton of his underwear between her hand and him.

"There?! That's what I mean! I've been pretendin' you're mine for so long now that I've convinced myself yer really are! I don't know how to stop…okay?!"

Beth could do nothing other than stare back at him with wild curious eyes. He threw her hand back at her with contempt, feeling vulnerable and foolish at his confession. This girl had managed to do something that no woman ever had; she'd gotten under his skin.

Beth's breaths were shallow, long moments passed as she considered her next move. All of this was so new to her, she'd never really felt desire like this before and it made her do and say things she knew she didn't ought to, it clouded her judgment in the most wonderfully overwhelming way.

"It doesn't feel like pretendin' anymore does it? Doesn't for me anyway." Beth cautiously offered, Daryl merely huffed in reply, he was going to be a tough one to crack, she knew that, but she'd never been a quitter.

"I wouldn't mind being yours…for real. No more pretending, just you and me." She continued.

Daryl shook his head unwilling to consider that she might really want to be with him, girls like Beth Greene did not fall for trash like him. Yet upon hearing her words his internal monologue began an argument with itself.

_Maybe this could work? Maybe they could be together, the world worked to different rules now. But his track record wasn't exactly great, it was like the minute he started letting someone in they bolted on him, or worse got themselves killed, it was like a damn curse. No. No, how could he? Why risk the friendship they had? He could be happy just to be around her couldn't he? That could be enough. Better than trying to have more and losing her completely. He'd never be good enough for her anyway, no one would._

"You've no idea what yer sayin'! You're young and yer stupid! An you'd do well not to tease me girl!" he taunted her, feeling his defences rise, trying his best to push her away.

"And you're old and stubborn, you know that?!" Beth felt her patience grow thinner, "So what you going to do to me if I don't stop, what then?" she challenged him back.

Affronted by her boldness and confronted by the question, _What would he do to her if she kept on with her questions and propositions_? He turned away from her, physically closing himself off to her as well as mentally, "Jus' shut the hell up would ya! I ain't got time for this shit, gotta be up and outta here at dawn! All I wanna do is get some damn sleep!"

Beth gazed sadly at his back for a few seconds, all the scars reminding her of why he reacted this way when anyone reached out to him.

Despite her better judgement she scooted closer to him and fought to wrap herself around him, his body was ridged at first as though he didn't want the physical contact but she persisted, holding her position with as much grit as she could muster. Finally her arms encircled his middle and she rested her face against her back, "You don't get to call all the shots you know Dixon, I can love you and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."


	9. Goodbyes

Hey Guys, once again you guys have been amazing. Thank you so much for all of the reviews, favourites and follows. You have been so awesome. I'm not 100% happy with this chapter but it was necessary to take the story where it needs to go. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy chapter 9.

**Goodbyes**

"You won't ever have to say goodbye  
You won't ever have to say "I've wasted all my time"  
If the dream you dream ain't what it seems  
Just look into my eyes  
You won't ever have to say goodbye"

-Goodbye (Def Leppard)

When Beth woke Daryl had already gone. She cursed herself for sleeping in; she never did that anymore, why now? Today of all days! She fumbled her way into her jeans.

Hurtling down the stairs and into the kitchen she was met only by the sight of Billy, methodically cleaning the group's weapons, dismantling each gun and laying the components out on the oak table in front of him.

"Did they go? Are they gone, you're Dad and Daryl?" she tripped over her words unable to get them out quickly enough.

Billy looked up at her with a dry expression, "Yeah, three hours ago! Didn't he even wake you to say goodbye? _What a guy!"_ The boys voice was snide, but Beth could tell it wasn't aimed at her, he was still sore at his Dad taking off with Daryl and not allowing him to go.

Sensing Beth's disappointment the kid took pity on her, "Michonne's with Judith, in the garden…and there's coffee in the pot if you want it, should still be warm, Brian jus' made it."

Feeling empty and dejected Beth made her way over to the stove._ He must have been really pissed not to so much as say goodbye_. Her bare feet padding on the cold tiles of the kitchen floor, she settled herself on the opposite side of the table to Billy and marvelled at all of the gun components set out before her.

"You know how all of these bits go back together?" she asked absently, kind of impressed at the precision required of the task, the boy really appeared to know what he was doing.

"I sure do, I'm not actually as dumb as that husband of yours would have you believe." Billy griped, momentarily gazing up from his work.

Beth shot him a thin smile and took a sip of coffee, "He doesn't think you're dumb, he's just…" she searched her head for a plausible explanation for Daryl's attitude. Before she came up with one Billy chimed in.

"Yeah he does, he just thinks because I don't walk around like fucking He-man that I'm a liability."

Taking another sip of coffee Beth sighed, "I know he's kinda…abrupt. Try not to take it personally Billy. He just wants everyone to be safe, that's all."

"Abrupt? Are you kidding me? He's rude, a total ass! I mean really, what does someone like you see in someone like him?" Billy blurted out, the last of his remaining composure slipping.

Beth gripped on to her coffee a little tighter, "He's not like that with me…well actually he is sometimes but I'm kinda used to it now I guess."

"_Used to it?_ Why the hell would you want to be used to it? Do you not deserve better? Don't you WANT better?"

Beth chewed at her lip, trying not to rise to his goading, "No actually, no I don't. You just met us! You don't know anything about us! He's saved me, he's saved me more times than I can even count, he's a good man!"

Billy's eyes narrowed, "So what, he's supposed to save you. You're his wife! What about before the world went crazy, what did you see in him then?" Billy pressed.

Beth hated these moments, the ones where she had to lie convincingly, but this time she found herself wanting to defend Daryl so badly that she found the words marching out of her mouth of their own volition.

"No offence Billy but my husband's kinda handsome, that's what I saw in him."

The kid rolled his eyes, "So you're that shallow?"

Beth gasped at the insult, "No! I was seventeen and he was…older, okay? My hormones were haywire. You must get that?!"

Billy capitalised on her statement, "So he took advantage of you, at seventeen?!" he concluded, taking his place triumphantly on the higher ground.

"He didn't! Not at all, he barely looked at me; it was like I wasn't even there for the first year or so. He'd walk around my Daddy's farm, helping out and I just longed for him to see me, take notice but I was off limits." Beth fiddled with the cuff of her hoodie realising there was some truth in what she was saying, she had felt invisible to Daryl during those first months on the farm.

Billy shrugged his shoulders, "So what changed?"

Feeling a coy smile creep over her face Beth shrugged back to him, "I grew up, got to know him. We became friends, there wasn't any whirlwind romance but he loves us, me and Judy - I know he does."

Without thought Billy stomped on her self-assurance, "So much that he didn't even say goodbye this morning?"

Beth's lip trembled slightly and she set her jaw, biting down the hurt that the boy's words had caused.

"I couldn't have gone with him, not with Judy. We don't have the choices we used to have in the old world, we all got jobs to do, mine's looking after Judy." She reasoned, hoping to hide how much his words had wounded her.

Billy shook his head, "Look 'am sorry, I just don't know what you see in him. From what I've seen of you you're nice, you're always fussin' after him or the baby and he can't even say goodbye? That sucks!"

Beth looked back at him, she felt empty and it wasn't hunger, it was something deeper, like a part of her was missing, "Well, I hate goodbyes anyways."

"Me too, I hate the ones I never got to say before it was too late." There was bitterness in his voice that told Beth he knew what he was talking about.

She considered the weight of the statement, he was right. Goodbyes were awful but they were important, now more than ever. Goodbyes were your opportunity to say whatever you really wanted to say to someone because you never knew if it might be the last chance to say it.

She had come to think of Daryl as immortal but of course that wasn't the case, it only took being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it could happen to anyone. The Governor killed Merle in cold blood, he'd think nothing of doing the same to Daryl.

A wave of nausea washed over her.

Beth's elbows rested on the table top, head in her hands, "I shouldn't have let him go..."she said more to herself than Billy,"…I can't, I can't risk letting it end like this, I gotta go after him. They had to fix up the SUV first, maybe I can catch them up? They should never have gone, it's not safe, they don't know what they're walking in to!"

In an instant Billy realised what he'd done, he looked back at Beth mortified at what she was suggesting. He'd not meant to get her so spooked, he just wanted to vent.

"No! No you don't! What happened to _We all got jobs to do_? You have to look after the baby!" Panic seeped through in Billy's voice.

"Michonne's got her, she'll be safe with her for a day. I'm just gonna catch up with Daryl and your Dad, they can't have gotten that far, I'll convince them to come back. That's all." she knew her voice was jabbering, even though she tried to make it sound like no big deal. There was no such thing as _No big deal_ anymore, she'd never set out on her own before, it was stupid…reckless…foolish, all of those things but still she was doing it, she just had to get to him.

"You tried to convince him before and he still went!" Billy shrieked, following her around the room as she gathered her shoes and slung on her jacket.

She looked up to him briefly, her face flushed with determination, "I'll try harder!"

Before Billy could retort with a convincing counter argument she was out of the door, shouting over her shoulder, "I'm taking your Dad's truck, I'll square it with him when I get to them!"

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD**

Daryl huffed through his nose, cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth as he struggled to get the spark plugs to fit, this should have been a five minute job, damn zombie apocalypse making him lose his touch.

Already this was taking longer than he would like, didn't seem like a good omen. Something in his gut told him that his plan was not going to run as smoothly as he had intended, they'd gotten off to a slow start and were on the back foot before they'd begun.

Beth's words echoed in his head_, "I don't like it…what happened to sticking together huh?"_

Something akin to guilt and maybe even remorse threatened to overcome him as he buried his head under the SUV bonnet. He'd woken that morning to the feel of her steady breath on his back and her wiry arms embracing him. It had felt way more right than it should have. Ghosts from his past had prevented him from enjoying being held for as long as he could recall, he'd never cuddled with women, not even after sex when the moment had called for it. But those women were nothing like Beth, hell they were barely the same species.

She had told him she loved him, he knew instantly that she wouldn't for one minute expect him to say it back. That was so _Beth_, just giving and giving and never expecting a return for her efforts. Laying her heart out right in front of him for him to do whatever the hell he wanted with it.

Part of him wished he could say it back, show her he could be as brave as her, as vulnerable. But that just wasn't him. Saying it would change things, it'd change him, he knew it. Once he allowed himself he knew he'd cling to her, so tight he might suffocate her, he'd scare her off.

"Anything I can help with?" George offered peering over Daryl's shoulder in a very fatherly manner.

"I CAN DEAL WITH IT DAMN IT!" Daryl's voice was louder and more abrasive than he'd ever intended. He liked George, poor son of a bitch had volunteered to come out with him, he didn't have to, knowing him all of two days.

George took a step back and before he could reply Daryl jumped in, remembering himself, "Oh Man I'm sorry, seriously…I shouldn'ta…"

The elder gent nodded his head knowingly as he always seemed to do, resting his hands on his hips, "S'ok, I know what it's like. Tell me to butt out if ya want but I heard raised voices last night, am guessing Beth really didn't want you to do this run today huh? Not left it on bad terms have ya?"

Daryl shifted uneasy on the spot, taking another drag on his cigarette,"M'somethin' like that."

George's expression was sympathetic, "You make up before you left?"

Suddenly Daryl looked guilty, like he'd broken some unspoken rule of relationships that he wasn't even aware of, "Not 'xactly…she was still sleepin' when I left."

Daryl watched as Georges face contorted into an awkward expression, "So you just left it, on a quarrel?"

Returning to fiddle with the spark plugs Daryl mumbled, "Is that bad?"

George's eyes narrowed as though the answer should be obvious, "Well, s'not good is it? What you gonna do if we don't make it back? You want the last thing she remembers of you to be some pointless argument?"

Daryl wasn't the most empathic of men but he could sense there was something behind that statement, George was speaking from experience.

"Course we're gonna make it back, George…damn. Wanna try turnin' the ignition over for me, I think we nailed it." He drawled trying to put the man at ease.

Reluctant to leave the conversation George headed to the drivers seat and spoke back from where he sat, "You don't know that, none of us do. I lost my old lady after a fight about cursing in front of Bill…" he turned the key in the ignition and the car hummed to life.

Daryl didn't interrupt; he just got in the passenger seat, pleased that they could now be on their way.

Eyes prone to the road George continued,"…the world had gone to hell in a handcart and she was pissed at me for using the f word in front o'him." There was a hint of laughter in his tone as he finished his sentence.

Daryl smirked and rolled his eyes, "Sounds familiar…"

"Your old lady does that too? I guess it's a woman thing." George asked, hands at ten-to –two on the wheel, eyes scanning the road cautiously though there were no other vehicles in sight.

"She's 'bout twenty years off of bein' anyone's old lady…but yeah I'm always bein' told to watch my mouth around the young 'un." Daryl couldn't help but find amusement in the term.

"A'haha, sorry, turn of phrase! I kinda understand it now, the watching your mouth thing. Linda – my old lady, and Beth, they just want to keep some things sacred ya know? I never realised until she was gone and Billy was all, _`fuck this_` and, `_bastard that_` and it hit me, she just wanted to keep him a kid for as long as she could."

Daryl thought back to Judith and how he'd watched her sleeping, she was so innocent. It'd break his heart to ever see that change, "Yeah I guess so, never saw it like that before."

"Wish I'd told her…" George gripped the wheel harder,"…wish I'd had chance."

Daryl's heart - or the swinging brick that he preferred to portray himself as having, ached for George at that moment.

Staring out of the window of the car, feet perched up on the dash Daryl's head was clouded with visions of messy blonde hair, blue eyes like saucers, the way she smelt like a candy store, the way she had held him and fitted her body to his so neatly he almost dared believe they had been made for one another.

The notion suddenly struck him that his fear of telling her that he loved her had now been replaced by a fear of never having the chance to do just that.


	10. Firecracker

Guys! I am so sorry that I have been away for so long. I really wanted to get this chapter right and it really took some writing. I haven't yet seen the midseason finale (I live in the UK and our friend gets them for us off Sky, I plan on having a marathon this weekend!) but I gather I am in for a treat? Daryl and Beth end up fleeing together…sweet Jesus that is perfect! I guess all that praying to the Shipper Gods paid off!

As ever your reviews have been so incredibly encouraging, I can't thank you all enough. It really does keep me writing. ThankyouThankyouThankyou! I love the lot of you fellow Bethylers!

**Chapter 10**

"Among your hounds of love,  
And feel your arms surround me.  
I've always been a coward,  
And never know what's good for me."

-The Hounds of Love (Kate Bush) 

Due to their delayed start it took Daryl and George a full day to get to The Maycroft, night had fallen by the time they drove up to the old hotel. The first thing that caught Daryl's attention was the lobby windows had been blown out; shards of glass littered the foyer floor. Straight away he was on tracking mode, footsteps light, crossbow poised. George seemed to follow his lead, thankfully he wasn't too heavy footed and managed to keep noise to a minimum. He kept his gun cocked and held a flashlight in his teeth.

Even though it was clear the hotel had been attacked Daryl had faith in the people he had met there, they had been survivors, a group much the same as his own and he hoped Jeanette and the others had fled to safety, leaving The Maycroft an empty shell.

To set his mind at rest he decided on a full sweep of the premises, checking for signs of bloodshed and God forbid that no one had been left behind.

"The bastards that did this are probably long gone by now, jus' gotta check it out, make sure everythin's secure ya know?" Daryl hissed bitterly to George. It pained him to think of Joe and Anna out there with their kids. Once again The Governor had managed to turf a group of good people out of their makeshift home, no doubt making them fear for their lives in the process.

**TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD**

Beth's mind raced as she retraced the route she had taken to the information centre a few days before, her eyes raked over the side of the road hoping to come cross the SUV on her travels. She knew her actions would earn her nothing but a barrage of verbal abuse from an already pissed off Daryl, he'd be crazy at her for leaving Judith and setting out on her own but still she drove on. She could happily take whatever wrath he threw her way just to know he was alright, hell she'd treasure every name he called her, every scathing criticism he could come up with, just to have the luxury of him there beside her again, living and breathing .

She drove until the light dimmed, hoping the gas in the truck would last her journey. Feeling her sugar levels drop she reached into the glove compartment hoping to find some candy of some sort, her eyes were averted from the deserted road for no more than a second but instantly she heard a loud bang and the vehicle swerved to one side, jack knifing in the road. Panic rose in her chest making her tremble as she fought to bring the truck under control.

She sat there for a moment once the truck had finally come to a halt. Momentarily she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing, _Holy shit! What was that?_

Ensuring her knife was concealed beneath her jacket she jumped out of the truck and went to investigate what she was fairly sure was going to be a blown tyre. Upon inspection the back left wheel confirmed her suspicions, the tyre was flat but not blown. Beth did her best to source the problem but the dimming light made it difficult. Running her fingers over the circumference of the wheel and under the wheel arch her fingers detected something, she fumbled to retrieve it, after a short struggle she eased it loose, it was a six inch nail.

_What the hell? What was that doing in the road? _

Beth's stomach lurched up into her throat as she heard the familiar click of a safety being let of a gun behind her; a gun that sounded like it was directed to the back of her head. She blew out a tense breath as her shoulders slumped at the realisation she'd walked right into a trap.

"S'a pretty little thing like you doin' out here on yer own?" a male voice droned behind her, making her skin crawl.

Keeping her position knelt down before the wheel arch she tried her best not to sound every bit as scared as she was, "I'm not on my own, I'm just on my way to get my people, okay? I don't have anything for you to take, so if you'll let me go I'll be on my way."

"We'll let the Governor be the judge of that little lady. I'm guessing there's plenty me an my friends can take from you...once the Governor's done his bit of course. On yer feet…" and with the gruff man's command she felt the nudge of a rifle in her back."…in the truck, over there. Don't cause a fuss there's no one around ta hear ya anyways…and keep yer hands up. Don't go tryin' anythin' stupid now."

Trying to process her thoughts Beth walked towards a Military truck she had passed in the SUV a few yards back. She had dismissed it as abandoned. The windows had been put out, it looked like a shell.

Walking as slowly as she could get away with, gun pressed firmly to her lower back, "Please…I have a little girl I have to get back to her…" she pleaded, genuine remorse and longing in her tone.

"Save it!" he shouted swatting her ribs cruelly with the barrel of the gun," I don't care about yer stupid kid. What kinda mother leaves her kid in the first place…dumb bitch!" The stranger's words stung her; she'd really messed up this time. Leaving Judith was the most unforgivable thing she had ever done. There was no question about it, she _had _to get back to her.

Before throwing her against the passenger side of the gutted out truck the man placed the riffle down on the seat, securely sandwiching her between the vehicle and his body, the smell of him left her nauseous. It was the scent of sweat and cigarettes, it should have smelt like Daryl but it could not have been further from the case. He was twice her size, triple her age she guessed, he could have overpowered her in an instant. Reaching for a cable tie his face descended into a gruesome snarl, "If I were you I'd get used to being tied up, some o' my boys are kinda kinky like that." He all but spat the words into her ear making her shudder with disgust.

She knew this was her only chance, once her hands were tied that was it, she'd be totally at his mercy, along with anyone he chose to hand her over to. His mention of Judith had triggered some instinct within her and adrenaline raged through her. Suddenly she knew exactly what she had to do, what she _needed _to do. It was almost as though someone else had taken over. Beth had never before been the brave one, she never had to be with Maggie for an older sister, but the same blood ran through their veins and that was a comforting thought.

He reached for her right hand first, seizing her split second opportunity Beth grabbed her knife out of her waistband with her left hand and stabbed it straight through his palm, pinning him to the upholstery of the passenger seat. He let out a blood curdling scream, half pain and half shock at the realisation he'd woefully underestimated the girl before him.

In one fluid movement the same hand that had wielded the knife reached out to take a hold of the shotgun.  
Trying her best to look like she knew what she was doing Beth pointed the gun to his head without bothering to unpin him from the seat," Keys!" she demanded, "Place them on the seat!" she gestured next to his bloody hand, unwilling to take either of her hands off the gun.

"You crazy bitch! You don't even know what you're messing with here!" the man's voice was fraught with pain.

"No asshole _you_ don't know who you're dealing with! Now gimme the keys, or I just shoot you here and leave you as walker bait!" Beth saw a flicker of fear in the man's eyes in response to her threat.

Daryl was right – _she had changed._

After cable tying his hands as he had intended to do to her, she allowed him to sit beside her in the passenger seat, ensuring his gun was well out of reach at all times. She drove towards the Maycroft, leaving George's truck by the wayside.

"Where…where we goin'?" the now clearly terrified man looked at her, shaking slightly from blood loss.

For a second Beth felt a pang of pity for him, she'd never wilfully harmed anyone before, but she wasn't about to let her steely resolve slip now, not when it had just saved her ass. He'd as good as threatened to rape her, some people didn't deserve mercy.

"We're going back to The Maycroft, and on the way you're going to tell me everything you know about the Governor. If you do what I say and don't try anything stupid…" Beth revelled in throwing his words back at him now she had the upper hand,"…I'll put a good word in for you with my husband. If you don't…" she couldn't stop the borderline sadistic smirk that creased her pretty features,"…well…you'll wish I left you for the walkers."

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD **

Scanning every room and corridor methodically Daryl and George were more or less satisfied that the group from The Maycroft had fled, the supplies had been taken, looted by whoever had ransacked the place or packed away in haste by the previous occupants.

They came to room 210 and Daryl marvelled at how staying there with Beth and Judith felt like a life time ago. So much could change in the space of 72 hours now, there was no security to be had, you couldn't afford to become complacent.

His mind once again returned to Beth, formulating a plan in his head, playing out various scenarios. He and George would return back to the Information Centre, maybe she'd be so pleased that he'd returned in one piece that she'd overlook his misdemeanour? He'd wait until they were alone and make it up to her, if she'd let him. A familiar voice in his head butted in, he wasn't sure if it was Merle's or his own, _Stop bein' such a pussy and just tell 'er how you feel…_

George disturbed him from his day dreaming with a playful nudge, "We done 'er? This place gives me the creeps, keep expectin' some kid on a red trike to come past!"

Scoffing slightly Daryl conceded, "Yeah, place is clear, if we head off now we stand a chance of getting back before dawn. Hopefully Beth'll be too tired to kick my ass for not sayin' goodbye."

Heading towards the stairwell George called over his shoulder, "Wouldn't hold out too much hope of that son. Just let her have her say, agree with her that she was right and you were wrong, save yourself a whole lotta grief."

"S'not like that with me n Beth, we're kind of a team." Daryl realised his lips were curling of their own volition at the mention of her name. _What was this girl doing to him?_

George chuckled as though he knew better, "That so? Say how long exactly have you two been married?"

Daryl faltered, conflicted between feeling guilt at his dishonesty and enjoying the lie, "Not that long I guess…"

"Well just take it from a seasoned professional, I know this stuff…it _IS_ like that. You apologise to that girl and make it good if you don't want this to be brought up every time you two have a quarrel for the rest of yer natural lives!"

There was a few moments silence as they continued down the stairwell, descending floor after floor until they were almost dizzy.

Eventually they found themselves back in the foyer, Daryl strode towards the door with confident steps, that was until the catch of a gun was released and his ears pricked.

A sinister yet familiar voice broke through the silence, "Not so fast my friends, I've got a few questions for you. I think you might just have something I want…"


	11. Chapter 11

Hey Guys! Wow, you have all been so kind about the last chapter! Thank you so much! I really do love hearing your feedback, it helps me shape where the story is going, you're all so generous with your reviews.

Sorry this chapter is kinda sort, but more will follow, I just had to end this one here.

**Chapter 11**

"Love you so much  
Can't count all the ways  
I'd die for you girl  
And all they can say is  
"He's not your kind.

-Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon (Neil Diamond)

Daryl's heart sank at the sound of The Governors voice. Wasn't it just the way? A simple run has to turn into an _Interview with the Nutjob_ just when he thought he could head back to Beth and make things right.

Turning around to see the familiar eye patch covered face Daryl held up his hands wearily so as not to give the Governor an excuse to do anything stupid.

"What could we possibly have that you want? You already ran good people outta this building, women an children? You took the prison…what more could you want?" he lost control of his tone a little at the end of his sentence, frustrated with the turn of events.

The Governor's composed exterior showed no sign of cracking; he nodded as though agreeing with Daryl's statement, a gun still aimed at his head.

"Oh but you do, I heard mention that our mutual friend Michonne has been seen around this area recently, something tells me she'll be holed up wherever you and the rest of your motley crew dispersed to. I made this proposition once before, and I'll make it one last time…" he paused fumbling in his pocket.

"…take me to her and I'll spare the rest of your group. One person to save a dozen?"

Daryl fidgeted uneasy, hurrying to get his story straight in his head, making sure his mouth wouldn't run away with him.

"Ain't a dozen of us no more, your fires took care o' that!"

A smile that told of a sick satisfaction manifested over the Governors features, "Ah yes, my fires…funny you should mention those." His hand emerged from his pocket and he victoriously held up an old zippo.

Daryl's brow furrowed at the sight of the lighter and suddenly the faint smell of gasoline that had been bothering him throughout their search made sense. How could he have missed that? He'd been so preoccupied by his thoughts of Beth that he'd dismissed the smell as blowing in from outside, thought it insignificant. He knew better than that! He _WAS_ better than that, nothing was insignificant these days.

"…see just in case you didn't agree to take me to her, that evil bitch who murdered my little girl…" the Governor aimed his view at George, perhaps hoping to come across as a bereaved parent trying to avenge their child.

"…I had to take out a little insurance. Gasoline is at a premium now more than ever but be assured that I have spread enough of it around that this place will go up like the Wicker Man the moment I drop this lighter."

Daryl winced, knowing the Governors threat to be true. He hated fire, ever since he lost his mother to it_, for all the use she was._ It had always haunted him that she died in that way. He had always secretly hoped that the smoke got to her first before the flames.

"We ain't seen Michonne in weeks, not since the prison…and your little girl was dead a long time before Michonne got to her, all's she was doin' was puttin' her out of her misery."

Daryl's words caused The Governors well composed mask to slip, the mention of Penny clearly pushing him too far.

"SHE WASN'T! SHE WASN'T DEAD! If I'd had time…" the Governor's voice caught in his throat as he tried to calm himself,"…if I'd just had more time I could have saved her, brought her back I know I could…you don't know what it's like to be a father, to have a child relying on you from the day they're born to keep them safe."

As if by reflex Daryl corrected him, "I do! " his voice was assured and held a note of protest.

"We have Rick's baby with us, me an' Beth – _Hershel Greene's daughter_, you remember? He probably told you about her, the new born he mentioned when you met?" he softened his tone as though trying to soothe a wounded animal.

George's gaze was momentarily ripped from The Governor and over to Daryl, "I knew it! I knew somethin' was amiss here! You bein' so green an all, you're not really married are ya?"

Daryl's hand shot up to, `halt' George, trying to remind him that now was neither the time nor the place.

"I been lookin' after that kid since the day she was born, ain't nothin' I wouldn't do to protect her, I'll die for 'er if I have to. I know she's Rick's, but he ain't here, so I'm the best she's got for now." Daryl let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, hoping he'd made a connection with the Governor enough to at least stop him setting them all alight.

The Governor stood before them, gun still pointed in their direction, grip firm on the zippo. He seemed distant though, perhaps still processing the information just imparted upon him.

"I swear we don't know where Michonne is, the whole group scattered. But Asskicker…Judith…" Daryl paused, it almost felt alien calling the kid her proper name,"…she needs me, for now at least."

The Governors good eye narrowed, "You called her _Asskicker_?"

Daryl nodded, wanting to believe he might have made some kind of fatherly connection with the man, "Figured she'd have to do a lot of that, _ass kicking,_ if she was gonna survive in this world. She's lived up to it pretty damn well so far."

If he wasn't mistaken there was a thin smile playing on the Governors lips, maybe it was delirium, Daryl wasn't great at reading people, he knew that. Maybe he was interpreting the signals all wrong but he was going to push his luck anyway, "'Am sorry about what happened to your girl, really I am…" he was sincere about that, "…I can't imagine what it was like. But my baby girl's still alive and she needs me. We don't have what you want. Jus' let us go."

With the Governor seemingly mulling over Daryl's words in a silent trance, Daryl had been able to slowly move back towards the doors. If he could just give them the slightest nudge they could be out of there, make a run for it back to the SUV.

At first he lightly tried the doors, he was met with unexpected resistance; secondly he tried a little harder. George could see what he was trying to do and leaned his body back against them in order to add his weight to the effort, but the door wouldn't budge. They were locked.

Looking up from his revere a sickening grin crept across the Governors features; he looked just like a comic book villain.

"Nice try fellas…A for effort and all that." He taunted, "And you..." he gestured to Daryl,"…so convincing! That really was a heart wrenching story, not as good as your friend Rick's though, no he pretty much begged for his life, and his kids…didn't end well for him did it?"

Daryl's blood ran cold trying to work out if he was talking about their meeting prior to the conflict at the prison or if the Governor was telling them that he had seen Rick and Carl since they were separated.

Coolly the Governor flipped the top off his lighter, and began to turn the flint. To his slight annoyance it wouldn't light, giving a mocking half laugh he chided, "Damn thing, always been temperamental… always works in the end though."

"If you set this place alight with us in it, you'll take yourself down too!" Daryl reasoned, knowing he was pointing out the obvious.

The Governor broke in to a chilling laugh," YOU THINK I CARE?! I LOST EVERYTHING I LIVED FOR WHEN YOUR FRIEND STUCK A MACHETE THROUGH MY DAUGHTERS SKULL! "

Holding up the zippo he gave one last proposition, "TELL ME WHERE THAT BITCH IS AND I'LL LET YOU GO. TELL ME! TELL ME AND YOU CAN GO HOME TO YOUR DAUGHTER."

As terrified as he was Daryl would never lead that man back to where Beth and Asskicker were. He meant what he had said, he'd die for them.

Realising Daryl's resolve the Governor began to try and light the zippo in earnest, franticly scratching at the flint. Daryl looked on knowing it was only a matter of time before a spark would light and the whole place would go up.

His thoughts were a whirl, memories flickering through his mind at breakneck speed. He knew you were meant to see all the good stuff just before you died, but truth be told there wasn't much good stuff to be had in Daryl's 40-something years.

He saw his Dad, the sadistic bitter asshole he'd been, his Mom drunk out of her mind, Merle defending him from them both – the best he could whenever he could.

But then there was Beth, the first time he'd noticed her, _really_ noticed her, placing Judith into his arms, the day he'd named her Ass Kicker. Shit, they were beautiful – both of them.

He knew there were tears brimming in his eyes as he looked over to George; he wanted to let the man know he was sorry. Sorry for bringing him out here away from his boy. Beth was right all along, he should never have left them. What use was he to them dead?

George looked back with a compassionate look of understanding and resignation. There was an immense dignity about the older man, Daryl couldn't help but admire that.

The lighter began to spark, signalling it would be a matter of seconds before a full flame would be achieved, Daryl held a breath and closed his eyes so tightly that lights began to shoot behind his eyelids.

At the very moment Daryl had steeled himself for flames a gunshot rang out, piercing his ear drums. Confused and disorientated Daryl's eyes blinked open, surveying the scene. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, adrenaline coursed through his veins to the point it made him feel nauseous.

The Governor slumped forwards, an exit wound in the middle of his forehead. For a moment Daryl daren't believe he was dead. It seemed like such a simple straightforward end for their very worst adversary. It hardly seemed real.

His eyes wandered back into the darkness of the hotel lobby, wondering who the gunman could be, he and George had searched the entire place.

Slowly a trembling petite little figure cautiously walked out of the shadows and into view. She looked like a deer in headlights, eyes so large and glassy. The gun, still warm from use hung loose in her hand and there were tears streaking her face.

With his heart threatening to beat clean out of his chest Daryl strode over and caught her in his arms just as her knees were about to give out, "Beth?!"


	12. Chapter 12

Hey Everyone! Firstly – you guys are the BEST! You give the best, funniest and most constructive feedback ever and I just want to thank all of you for that. The Bethyl ship is one of the friendliest I have ever encountered. You are ALL awesome.

Ok, so this chapter is a bit angsty, and Daryl is maybe a bit of a dick, I'm sure he'll make up for it later though ;-)

And…it has not been lost on me that the Governor never came back as a walker, but I figured as Beth shot him in the head that wouldn't happen, right?

Hope you like it fellow Bethyler's xxx

**I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You**

"Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you  
'Cause falling in love just makes me blue,  
Well the music plays and you display  
Your heart for me to see,  
I had a beer and now I hear you  
Calling out for me  
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you."

I Hope That I don't Fall In Love With You – Tom Waits

Both Daryl and Beth slumped down on the lobby floor, a tangle of limbs, chests heaving and shaking as they tried to comprehend all that had just happened.

"Wha…what the hell? How are you even here?" Daryl questioned, his eyes raking over her hardly able to believe she was there.

Beth looked back at him, wondering where to start, running out of the Information Centre that morning seemed like a lifetime ago.

"I…I had to find you…" she offered by way of explanation, knowing it would fall short.

"Why, is it Asskicker, is she ok? What's wrong?" Daryl looked pained at receiving a new panic just moments after the last one.

"She's fine, she's with Michonne. She's safe." Beth shot out the words as fast as she could so to assure him and Daryl nodded, grateful at the news.

Clinging to his arm that wrapped around her middle, willing him to stay close Beth tentatively looked up at him, "I was…it was stupid. I got spooked, Billy was tellin' me how he lost his Mom an' never got to say goodbye. I started thinkin' about how I never got to say goodbye to Maggie or my Daddy and I just couldn't bare that to happen with you too, so I came after you. It was dumb, I know that, I know."

Sighing hard Daryl fought a battle internally, his anger at her recklessness bubbling away begging to be released, then the other side of him, the reasonable side, gained from months of leading beside Rick Grimes, it told him that her recklessness had just in fact saved his ass…but no. Today his anger was going to win.

"Damn right that was stupid!" his brow creased looking down at the girl still clinging on to his embrace.

She bit her lip slightly, startled at his words even though she agreed with them.

"I'm…I'm sorry, I …" she stuttered.

"I don't care; you left Judith and came after me after I _TOLD_ you I'd be back. You could have gotten yourself killed! Fuck's sake Beth, when are you going ta start listenin' to me, what the hell is wrong with you girl?" he knew his tone was harsh, maybe even harsher than he had intended it to be, but the thought of losing her was unbearable.

Beth's eyes welled with new tears, "Except you wouldn't have come back, not this time, not if I hadn't have been here. Me and Judith would have been back there waiting, doing as we're told for you to _NEVER_ come back."

The realisation hit Daryl, how close he had been to death. She was right but he was never one to back down from an argument.

"But you'd have been _SAFE_! Can't you see that's all I'm bothered 'bout, this last few months it's been all about keeping you and that kid safe!"

Beth's sadness was being side-lined by anger, how could he be so bull-headed?

"What about what _I'M_ bothered about, what about what I care about?" she pleaded.

Unwilling to accept her admission of affection, Daryl shot back with what he knew was a low blow, "You left the baby, you should care about her!"

Sick of having her parental abilities criticized Beth's jaw dropped; _did he really just go there?_

"She's with Michonne, can you think of ANYONE she would be safer with? I didn't just leave her in the back of a Goddamn car! I would do anything for you…" her voice broke a little and she cursed herself for letting emotions get the better of her,"…but don't ever question my ability to look after her! I'd never let anything happen to her, I love that little girl!"

Daryl's gaze softened a bit, maybe he'd not expected her to argue back, "I know, I know ya do. S'just she needs you. You can't risk y'self for me. Not ever."

Grudgingly wiping a tear from her face with her jacket cuff Beth looked away from him, "S'up to me who I risk myself for…and you're welcome by the way." She said the last bit under her breath; half hoping Daryl wouldn't catch it.

Huffing in defeat Daryl roughly removed himself from around her and dragged himself to his feet, leaving Beth in a huddle on the floor.

George was busy tending to the bloody hand of Beth's hostage.

"And who the hell are you?" Daryl demanded, eyes boring into the older man, he was more than willing to take out his anger and frustrations on anyone who gave him an excuse to right now.

"Names Jim…" the man said eyeing Beth over Daryl's shoulder.

"What happened to yer hand Jim?" Daryl asked, wanting to know if this guy Beth had picked up was friend or foe.

"You're little wifey here stuck me!"

Daryl looked to Beth for confirmation and she nodded absently, pulling herself to her feet.

" I _stuck you_ because you tried to kidnap me and bring me to the Governor!" she clarified, voice still wobbly from her talk with Daryl.

Instantly Daryl's back was up and he strode nearer to the man, "Say what?"

Jim faltered, suddenly in Daryl's looming shadow," Hey man, I was jus' followin' orders, you know how it is!"

Beth interjected, not feeling too charitable at the memory of Jim's threats earlier in the night," Were you following orders when you threatened to rape me and hand me over to your friends?"

That was it, all the reason Daryl needed to kick the shit out of this asshole.

Reaching out to take Jim by the neck Daryl lifted the man effortlessly and kicked out the chair from beneath him.

"Hold up guys, calm down, we can handle this." George tried to interject but his pleas were ignored.

"I_ AM_ about ta handle this, jus' stay out of it." Was the only recognition George received.

Slamming Jim, still pinned by his neck in to the wall Daryl put his forehead to his, "That what you do? Go around being a lackey fo' this piece o' shit?" he gestured to the Governor's corpse still slumped on the floor," Usin' it as an excuse to force yourself on innocent women?"

Jim's eyes darted around as though trying to come up with an adequate response, "I was jus' tryna scare her, had to get her back to the Governor."

"BULLSHIT!" Daryl bellowed in his face, making Beth gasp behind him. She thought she had seen Daryl angry before but that was in the earlier days, when she'd been shielded from the harsher realities of life by her Daddy and Maggie.

Daryl tightened his already steel grip on Jim's neck , "I know men like you! I've known men like you all my life an' I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you go free to hurt anybody again. Men like you are a cancer. Ain't nothin' to be done to change you, just gotta put ya down!"

With that landed the first blow of many on Jim's jaw. Beth heard the bone break with an audible crack. Without faltering Daryl landed another blow to the mans gut, causing him to double over. Daryl followed this with a solid knee to his nose.

George attempted to intervene but his efforts went unrewarded, he wasn't as young as he used to be, he was no match for Daryl's rage or strength.

Beth watched on eyes wide, a sickness settling in her stomach. She'd warned Jim about this in the car, felt almost cocky about it but now it was really happening in front of her she knew no good could come of it. Seeing Daryl lay in to the man, whom she knew was most likely a rapist and a murderer, well it still didn't give her any satisfaction. A beating couldn't change a man like that, and each punch only served to take away a little bit of Daryl's humanity.

"Stop!" the word echoed out into the night and went ignored by Daryl, "Stop, Daryl! That's enough!"

Realising that her words were barely even being heard she swooped closer and attempted to catch Daryl's arm, but who was she kidding, he was way too strong.

"Daryl, stop it, he told me about the Governor at least, he tried, he tried to help! Told me about the back way into the hotel so I could come and get you!" she pled her case but still Daryl seemed locked into some kind of rage filled trance. He relentlessly pounded his fists into the mans sides, Beth knew Jim was close to passing out soon, there was only one thing for it. She had to get between them.

In one graceful movement she slid between the two of them, shielding Jim's body with hers. Daryl raised his fist for the dozenth time and was prepared to deliver another punch when he finally realised , a few millimetres from her face, that it was Beth stood in front of him and not Jim.

There was a pause; a silence filled the room as breaths were held. He had nearly struck her.

Daryl had never been faced with such a situation before, everyone else had always known better than to get in his way or never cared enough to try. Beth kept his gaze, brazen and unafraid she could almost see the conflict within him, the confusion of what to do next.

His lips twisted, contorting with anger, "You stupid fucking bitch! I damn nearly took yer head off!"

Beth winced as though he had really hit her; he'd never used names like that towards her before. She finally blinked and let a few tears go, "Please…please can we just go home? I need to get back to Judy…I just wanna go." Mentally she noted there was no, _"home_" anymore but wherever Judy was - that the closest thing she had to one.

George drove all the way back. Daryl silent and sulking in the passenger seat, Beth in the back, folding herself up small and feigning sleep, hoping neither of the men heard her sobs, she'd gotten pretty good at crying quietly since the whole apocalypse thing happened.

George couldn't help but notice Daryl fidgeting with the wedding band on his finger, twiddling it around absentmindedly as though it had always been there. Gathering his courage the older man drew a deep daring breath, "So, you wanna fill me in?"

Daryl's blue eyes rolled, a mannerism that was decisively teenage George thought, "I was with a group, back in Atlanta when this all kicked off. Ended up at her Daddy's farm…" he looked back at Beth's sleeping form in the back seat, least he hoped she was sleeping.

"…when that went to shit, got overrun with walkers we found a prison, secured that. That's where Asskicker was born; her Mom didn't make it so Beth ended up lookin' after her. We had things together for a while but The Governor and his men, then came along and ripped the place apart, we had to scatter."

George nodded patiently allowing Daryl to explain at his own pace.

"Beth, Judy and me, we got split up together, couldn't find the others. She was worried people would think she wasn't capable to look after the baby on 'er own, thought they might take her away from her, so she said we were married."

"Clever girl!" George reasoned, hands gripped on the wheel, "So you two, it was just a gradual thing then?"

Daryl looked back at his friend confused; he still thought he and Beth were an item.

"Oh, nah we're just…" he paused searching for the right term, _what were they to each other?_

"…friends."

To Daryl's dismay this earned a hearty laugh from George.

Feeling his blood rise again Daryl snarled, "What?!"

Unintimidated George looked back, ignoring Daryl's harsh tone, "Son, you can tell yourself whatever you like, but_,` just friends`_ don't look at each other the way you two do. They don't piss each other off as easily neither. If I were you, I'd keep that ring on!"

**TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD TWDTWDTWDTWDTWD**

Dawn was breaking as they returned to the Information Centre. After a few choice words from Michonne for literally leaving her holding the baby Beth made her way wordlessly to where she knew Judith would be, in her makeshift crib in the corner of the room that Michonne occupied.

She slumped down beside the sleeping babe, taking her little hand in hers, overcome with regret, "I'm so sorry…"she whispered,"…I'll never leave you again, I promise. I'm _so_ sorry, I love you."

Her head pounded trying to process the recent events, she wished she could go back to being the girl that, `Didn't cry anymore`, but it seemed the flood gates had now been opened.

She'd not realised it but Michonne had followed her up the stairs, her anger at the girl being replaced by concern.

"Hey…" Michonne tentatively reached out to rest her hand on Beth's shoulder,"…come on, it's ok, everyone's alright, that's the main thing."

Without raising her head, eyes still taking in Judy's sleeping form Beth answered, "It's not ok though, nothing is ok…" she sniffed.

"In the last 48 hours I have thrown myself at a man who has only ever tried to do the decent thing by me, I have abandoned a child that is as good as my own and I have killed a living breathing man, not a walker but a human being…" Beth let out a shaky sigh before concluding,"…my Father would be ashamed of me."

Michonne's lip quivered in sympathy and her arms instinctively pulled Beth into a tight hug.

"Don't you ever say that, you hear me? I knew your Dad - he was a good man, and he would have been so proud of you. I heard what you did and you kicked ass today Beth! You survived; you did what you had to do to save yourself and all of us, ok? So don't tell me your Father wouldn't have been proud, because sure as hell he would have been, he'd be proud of you every single day."

Neither of the women knew but Daryl had heard the whole thing from behind the bedroom door, he'd not meant to eavesdrop this time, but he couldn't help himself.

Still twiddling the wedding band around his finger he considered that maybe he'd been too hard on Beth, his temper had subsided now, and George's words ran through his head. Now the truth was out and they could drop their charade, what was left? Were they supposed to just go back to being Daryl Dixon and Beth Greene, two people just thrown together by circumstance? That just didn't feel like the truth anymore. The lie they had lived felt more real than reality now.

Rubbing a callused swollen hand over his face he considered their current situation: _what a fucking mess._


	13. Chapter 13

Hey! As ever you guys left me so brilliant feedback last chapter, thanks so much!

I'm sorry this is a shorter chapter, it is what it is, I hope you like it! Let me know what you think because I'm honestly not sure where I'm going with it next!

This chapter also contains my favourite type of Beth, Singing Beth! I had my iPod on the other day and this song came on and I could not think of a more fitting Beth/Daryl song ever so I had to include it in the story!

Thanks again for all being so kind and lovely about the story.

Dolly. x

Chapter 13

"Sleepless child  
There is so little time  
Your eyes say yes  
But you don't say yes  
I wish that you were mine"

-Beautiful Child (Fleetwood Mac)

Daryl was overcome by the need to sleep, he could normally hold out but the night's events had left him exhausted. He hauled himself up to the attic and was asleep pretty much as soon as his head hit the pillow. He had hoped maybe he'd wake up to Beth lying beside him, he was fairly sure she'd not really been asleep as much as she made out on their journey back.

It was Beth that roused him from his slumber but she wasn't creeping in beside him as he had wished for, but gathering her possessions. He watched her silently for a few moments, she looked tired, her pretty face was pale and drawn, there were bags under her eyes, she looked like glass.

She jumped a little when she realised his eyes were on her, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"S'ok, should probably get up anyways, stuff ta be done. What you doin' anyway?" he tried his best to sound indifferent.

"I just figured I'd give you some space, there's no reason for us to share a room now, not now everyone knows the truth. Me and Judy can share with Michonne." For some reason she found she couldn't meet his gaze as she spoke, instead she focused on the bundle of clothes in her arms.

Daryl bit down hard on his lip, he didn't want any Goddamn space, not from her. That voice was there in his head again, the one that was half his half Merle's, `_Say somethin' asshole, you're pushin' 'er away! Do somethin' before it's too late!`_

But he couldn't follow his own advice, instead he just nodded in compliance and Beth took that as her signal to leave.

He fisted at the sheet covering him, watching Beth Greene walk out of the door was the saddest sight he'd seen in a long time. Just as she was in the door way she stopped dead in her tracks and craned her neck around to speak to him, still not quite facing him.

"Daryl just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I know I've been a fool. I shouldn't have thrown myself at you like that, I shouldn't have kissed you. I know you don't feel that way and I must have made you feel awful awkward; I got kinda carried away. I'm gonna keep myself in check from now on; you won't get any more trouble from me. I'll do as I'm told."

And with that she made her exit. He counted her steps down from the attic before dragging the covers over his head, allowing himself a moment of weakness, silently allowing a few tears to fall before throwing the covers from his body and pulling on his old tatty checked shirt.

He reached for his crossbow, he'd go hunting. He wanted nothing more than to kill something, anything. Just something to make him numb to the conflict going on inside him.

Maybe Beth had come to her senses? She'd seen his temper in full flow last night, seen him kick the crap out of that Jim guy and been faced with the reality of who he really was. She had most likely realised she didn't want to be with someone like that. Who could blame her?

Pushing his thoughts to one side, compartmentalising them and banishing them to that corner of his mind marked, "Do not open" he stormed down the attic staircase.

Upon passing Michonne's room he heard a sound he'd not encountered in a long time, Beth was singing. She used to sing Asskicker to sleep back in the prison, but not so much now.

Peeking through the crack in the door he watched her, pacing the floor, the baby over her shoulder, he'd missed hearing her voice like this.

"_Beautiful child, beautiful child, you are a beautiful child, and I am a fool once more…"_

Daryl knew he was eavesdropping yet again, it was becoming a habit, but he couldn't bring himself to walk on. He loved the way she sang to Asskicker, the songs were never nursery rhymes, somehow that would have seemed absurd with the world in the state it was in now.

Instead she favoured singing songs that she liked, perhaps they were what she listened to on her iPod in the days before the world tumbled down around them, they always gave an insight into how she was feeling.

She'd clearly chosen this one because it was about a cute kid, maybe she sang Judy to sleep all the time with it when he wasn't around.

"_You fell in love when I was only ten, years disappeared much has gone by since then, I bite my lip, can you send me away? You touch I have no choice, I have to stay…"_

Daryl's eyebrows shot up; _ok maybe it's not about a cute kid._

"_Sleepless child, there's so little time, your eyes say yes, but you don't say yes, I wish that you were mine, I wish that you were mine"_

For some reason the sincerity in her voice as she sang that last line got to him, punched him in the gut. He swallowed hard, the thoughts he had banished threatening to escape.

"_You say it will be harder in the morning, I wait for you to say, just go. Your hands held mine so few hours, and I'm not a child anymore. I'm not a child anymore, I'm tall enough to reach for the stars, I'm old enough to love you from afar, to trust and then but women usually are, I'm not a child anymore."_

And then it hit him. She might be singing _to_ Judy but she was singing _about_ him. About _them_.

Asskicker must have dropped off because Beth gently placed her down in her crib. She studied the child for a moment and in turn Daryl studied Beth.

Her shoulders slumped and she looked down at the silver band on her finger with tired soulful eyes, she walked over to an old dresser that Michonne had taken to dumping her trinkets on. He watched as Beth went to remove the ring, fighting to get it over her knuckle.

"Don't!" for once his heart acted quicker than his head, totally blowing his cover. Beth took a sharp intake of breath; she had thought she was alone. Her eyes softened at the sight of Daryl, who was now making his way closer to her, stepping cautiously into the room to lean casually against the dresser.

"Don't what?" she looked up at him, a tiny glimmer of hope etched on her face.

Daryl kept his head bowed, using his shaggy hair as a shield, only peering up between errant strands, "Don't take it off…please?"

_Please. _The word clanged. Daryl wasn't used to saying it and Beth wasn't used to hearing it, not from him at least.

In one tiny movement that said so much more than words Beth slid the band back down on her finger.

"You gonna keep wearin' yours?" she questioned, glancing at him cautiously like a shy animal.

"Can't get the damn thing off, my knuckle's too swollen." He shot back, trying desperately to inject some normality into the conversation.

Beth's shoulders slumped back down defeated.

"But yeah, I'm keeping mine on…if that's what you want?" He concluded, still hiding behind his bangs.

"Ok…yeah." Beth raised her hand to stifle a yawn.

"You not slept yet?" Daryl observed and she shook her head_, "no."_

"Ya need ta get some rest, ain't gonna be no use to anyone like this." In a decisively un-Daryl gesture he swiped a strand of hair behind her ear.

Taking the kindly gesture with grace Beth acquiesced,"I guess so, might take the opportunity now Judy's asleep." She gestured towards the tired looking bed that she would now have to toe-to tail with Michonne in.

Daryl gnawed at his thumb; man if the elephant in the room got any bigger it was going to trample them.

"You should sleep in our bed." he uttered, eyes meeting hers in a fleeting glance.

Beth was a little staggered by his words, when did it become_, "our"_ bed? She had to admit though; she liked the sound of it_,"our bed". _She rolled the phrase around in her head, there was something wonderfully intimate about it.

Mistaking Beth's musing for hesitance Daryl launched wholeheartedly into explaining his reasoning,"S'just better if we're all together, if we need to get away in a hurry, y'know? Plus Judy won't wake as many people up there as she will down here, we don't wanna be pissin' people off."

Beth took a look at Judy who was still fast asleep, seemed a shame to wake her. Not taking no for an answer Daryl took her hand in his, "Come on…"pulling her arm gently but determinedly,"…come t' bed."

The corner of Beth's lips curled into a wry smile, "Thought you were getting up now, _stuff to do_ remember?" she repeated his words to him.

Daryl was already leading her out of the room, he acted as though he was irritated by her teasing but she knew him well enough now to know that there was a smirk on his face as he spoke, "Well now 'am tired again ok, you'll be the Goddamn death o' me!"


	14. Chapter 14

Hi All!

Ok, this was not the easiest of chapters to write, mostly because I am unsure as to where to take the story next (I have a few ideas), I'm hoping that doesn't come across too much. You guys have been so SO encouraging that I really wanted to give you something back; you have been more than lovely! I can't thank you enough for all your messages and input.

Dolly

**Chapter 14**

"And I know you're lonely  
For words that I ain't spoken  
But tonight we'll be free  
All the promises'll be broken "

-Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)

Beth laid there, in the constraints of Daryl's arms. She marvelled at the fact that she could be this tired and still not succumb to sleep. Daryl as it happened was having no such problem, sleeping deeply beside her, his breath creating warm spot in her hair.

He had ushered her up the attic stairs, leading her by the hand. For a moment it had crossed Beth's mind – _what were his intensions?_ She couldn't lie to herself that she had never considered what sex with Daryl Dixon might be like, she had…a lot. However this was not how it had played out in her head, with both of them exhausted and trying to collect their wits after a near death experience. She always thought she'd have a little more notice, more time to prepare, maybe have opportunity to take a shower or something first.

Her breath had stuck in her throat as he kicked off his shoes, shrugged off his jacket and perched on the side of the bed pulling his shirt over his head. Beth knew very little of foreplay but she was hoping to hell this wasn't Daryl's idea of it.

"What ya waitin' for? Get in!" he grumbled, surly as ever, lifting the covers back on the bed for her beside him.

_Oh lord…_

Beth moved shyly towards the bed, unable to speak a word.

"Take yer jeans off first though, you got all kinds crap on those thangs!" Daryl demanded, already lain down snugly, hands under his pillow.

Beth's mouth opened as though to answer him, and promptly snapped shut again. Sensing her unease Daryl turned his face away so to afford her a little modesty.

"I'll not look! Good lord, all this time together and you still got it in ya ta be embarrassed?!"

Beth felt a pang of relief and allowed her shoulders to ease a little from their tensed up state, she didn't know why she was suddenly so shy, they'd seen one another in such states over the last few months, it did seem silly to hide from him now.

"Thanks." She whispered her gratitude, shimmying out of her filthy jeans and into bed beside him.

That tense feeling was back, _what now?_ It wasn't the first time they had shared a bed, but before they'd always had the security of knowing that they had no choice, they'd _had_ to share a bed to keep up the rouse of being man and wife; this was different, now they were _choosing _to share a bed and that held entirely different possibilities.

She faced away from him, her back to his front. Instantly Daryl reached for her, pulling her into an embrace, moving her effortlessly with one strong arm to fit flush against his body, tangling his legs with hers for good measure. Her fears diminished when he nuzzled his face into her hair, his beard scratching at the place where her neck met her shoulder.

Giving her a more pronounced squeeze he wished her ,"G'night" as though they had done this every night for years. Before long his breathing slowed, warm and even on the crook of her neck and she allowed herself to relish being held in his arms.

There was something almost more intimate than sex about being with him like this, Beth thought. Not that she knew much about sex, only a few fleeting comments from Maggie and speculation between her and her friends at school. She knew he wasn't keen on being touched and for him to willingly wrap himself around her like this meant a lot, more than if he'd just mumbled a few sweet words and then gotten into her panties.

She stroked her free hand over the muscled tanned arm that held her in place. She wished she could sleep, her body begged to rest, and yet it seemed a waste, she'd wanted this for so long, to be that close to him and sleep through it seemed like a travesty.

She needn't have worried though, all the days that followed ended in the same way. The two of them stumbling into bed, weary from another day of surviving, wordlessly finding their way towards one another under the sheets until they were interlocked.

It wasn't lost on Beth that they nearly always fell asleep the same way, with Daryl holding her. Yet when she awoke most mornings, she was the one holding him, his head rested on her chest; it seemed to be a metaphor for their relationship. He was the strong one but slowly over time he was letting her in, letting her look after him a little bit. She cherished the brief moments before he woke, when she could stroke her hands through his hair and kiss the top of his head without him shifting away in protest, uncomfortable with the affection.

Once their secret was out they remained at arm's length in front of the group, although there was an unspoken rule adhered to by everyone, _Beth was Daryl's and Daryl was Beth's._ That was not to be questioned.

This was a lesson learned the hard way by young Billy. Against Daryl's better judgment he had agreed to take the boy out hunting, more as a favour to the kid's father, George, who Daryl figured he owed at least _one_ to after the Governor incident.

The boy had chattered on the whole time, it was a miracle that they had caught anything at all, a few squirrels and a possum were all they had to show for a day's tracking in the woods.

"So what's the deal with you an' Beth then?" Billy asked as though it was no big deal, Daryl rewarded him with a look that could have turned milk sour.

Pressing on either through stupidity or determination Billy continued his questioning, "Seriously, you guys are so weird, you act like brother and sister or somethin', you pass Judy between you like you got some kind of timeshare agreement on the kid and yet you go around with those dumbass wedding bands on and sleep in tha same bed every night. What gives?!"

"Can it kid, didn't yer Daddy ever teach you ta mind yer own business?" it took all of Daryl's iron will not to point his crossbow at the teenagers head as he spoke.

"Hey 'am only sayin' what everyone else is thinking! So what are you guys just fuck buddies or somethin'?"

That was it; the boy had pushed him too far. In one swift movement Daryl had Billy pinned against a nearby tree, "Don't ya _EVER_ let me hear ya speak about her like that again, or so help me I will put an arrow in your ass. Keep yer mouth shut Billy, 'am warnin' you!"

There was silence from Bill for a few moments as he watched Daryl stalk off back to the car, when he gauged a safe distance he shrugged, "Hang on…so, you're not fuck buddies then? You're really not getting' laid?"

As if by reflex Daryl shot a warning arrow, straight past Billy's ear and into the tree he had been pinned against moments earlier.

His mouth agape, eyes wide with outrage Billy pointed at the offending arrow, "What the fuck dude?! You could have killed me, you're a frickin' mad man! I only asked a question!"

Daryl winced in irritation at the boys whining, "Was never gonna hit ya dumbass, now make yer self useful an fetch me my arrow back!"

Sitting in the car on the way back to the Information Centre, Billy still yapping on beside him, seemingly completely unintimidated by the arrow incident, Daryl wondered if this is what it was like to have a younger brother. He thought of Merle with new regard, he had handled Daryl as a teenager pretty well all things considered. Merle's tact had always been to poke fun at Daryl, make him realise it himself when he was being a jackass.

"So you guys gonna stick around now?" Billy asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Why, you gonna miss bein' shot at if I leave?" Daryl quirked a half smile, despite the annoyance Billy had caused him all day.

With a shrug and a sideways glance Billy nodded, "Keeps me on my toes I guess, an Beth's pretty easy on the eyes."

Daryl knew the comment should have needled him but for some reason he didn't bite, "Jus' as long as it's only yer eyes on her kid."

Rolling his eyes Billy kicked his heels up on the dash, "Stop avoidin' my question!"

"Which question, there's that many of 'em I can't hardly keep up?" Daryl knew full well the answer Billy was looking for, for some reason the boy seemed to have grown quite fond of him and Beth over the last few weeks, always showing an interest in what they were doing...occasionally trying to help, in his own way.

"Are you sticking around? You're always on about finding your group but the way I see it is, if Michonne couldn't find 'em all those weeks ago, you don't stand much of a chance now. Plus Judy's crawling now, getting bigger, you can't jus' carry her around from place to place like ya did before. S'not safe." Billy barely paused to draw breath, it was clear he'd put together his manifesto in his head before delivering it to Daryl.

Daryl kept his eyes on the road ahead, torn as to what answer to give. Truth was he'd been debating their next move for a while. Day by day he could see Beth and Asskicker settling more and more into the new group, making friends, mucking in. Could he take them away from that just on the off chance they might find Rick, Carl, Glenn…the others? But was that just taking the easy way out? What if Rick and Carl were out there searching for Judy?

"I know what yer sayin', but we got an obligation to try an' get Asskicker back to her Dad n' her brother…"

True to form Billy interjected, "She's what…nine months old? She ain't going to remember them! Sure you do, but don't pretend you're doin' it for her because she ain't going to have a clue who they are, she thinks you and Beth are her Mom and Dad."

Daryl didn't have it in him to be angry at Billy's observation, the boy was nothing if not a straight talker and he kind of respected that.

"But we're not are we? We're not really her Ma n Pa." his voice gave away more emotion than it should._ Hell why could he not just keep his mouth shut when he was driving?_ He thought, recalling speaking to Beth about his own childhood under similar circumstances.

"So? Doesn't matter any does it? My Dad ain't my _real_ Dad neither, not really really I mean. He met my Mom when I was a year old, my real Dad ran off when he found out my Mom was havin' me, left her on her own. But he's my real Dad to me…my only Dad. "

It took quite a lot to shock Daryl these days, but Billy's revelation came as just that. He could have sworn George and Billy were blood, they didn't look so much alike but the kids determination and unrelenting _know it all_ streak most certainly came from George. And the pair were devoted to one another, just as Rick and Carl were, just as he and Merle had been at one time.

"That so?" he answered Billy, trying not to let on how surprised he was.

For the first time that day _and possibly ever_ Billy didn't speak, only nodded resolutely before returning to stare out of the window at the passing scenery.

"I need ta speak to Beth. We're a democracy, s'not for me to go callin' all the shots. If she wants to find the group, I have to consider that y'know?" He explained his thinking as though trying to teach the boy a valuable lesson.

"Ain't we your group too?" Billy challenged.

Daryl shifted awkwardly in his seat, suddenly wishing _brat Billy_ back, "Sure ya are kid."


	15. Chapter 15

Firstly…I'm sorry this has taken an age to write! I know some of you will have thought that I had abandoned the story but that really wasn't the case. Christmas and New Year are always incredibly busy times for me and this year was no exception.

Thank you all so much for your kind words of encouragement, you're all so lovely. The Bethyl stories at the moment are off the chart, there's some really awesome work out there, so whilst I haven't been able to write I have been keeping up with my reading.

I have taken on board a lot of the feedback I have been given and this chapter is example of that, so thank you all for your input.

**Chapter 15**

"You're running with me  
Don't touch the ground  
We're the restless hearted  
Not the chained and bound  
The sky is burning  
A sea of flame  
Though your world is changing, I will be the same."

-Slave to Love (Bryan Ferry)

Evening was drawing in when Daryl and Billy returned with their rather meagre haul, it was a good job that the Information Centre group had a handle on growing fresh fruit and vegetables. Something told Daryl that Billy was never going to make it as a hunter; kid was too damn loud for a start.

Beth was out on the porch folding laundry, she'd spent the whole day up to her elbows in soap suds washing the groups clothes, gone were the days of washing machines and tumble dryers, everything was harder now, even household chores.

Still, she smiled merrily at Judy who was obviously feeling quite content today, gurgling away in her make shift playpen (a rather shallow but large cardboard box with a blanket in the bottom). Beth pulled a funny face and blew a raspberry at the little girl, who must have found it amusing as she removed the ear of her stuffed elephant from her mouth in order to giggle.

Beth nipped inside to the kitchen for a moment to retrieve her carry basket for the clothes, she was gone less than 20 seconds, but there again 20 seconds was a long time nowadays, she should have known that by now.

Returning to the porch she was horrified to see that Judith was no longer in her playpen. The contents of her dinner threatened to return, as a cold sweat broke on her brow. _How could she have been so stupid? _The relative safety of the Information Centre, camouflaged night and day by its chained up walkers had given her a false sense of security. She cursed herself and shrieked for help, for once not caring if her calls attracted walkers.

"OH MY GOD! SHE'S GONE, HELP…ANYBODY…JUDITH'S GONE!" she yelled into the house, before launching out to take a lap of the porch. Maybe Judith had just gotten out of her pen somehow? The child was starting to pull herself up on things.

In an instant Daryl and Michonne were behind her, "WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?!" Daryl bellowed over her shoulder before barging her out of the way, crossbow ready to fire.

Desperate tears filled Beth's eyes as she felt an overwhelming sense of dread overcome her, "She was right there, just sat in her pen, laughing at me and then she was gone…I went to fetch the other clothes basket and then she was gone!" Beth gestured to the playpen and then looked back up to Michonne with pleading eyes.

"It's ok, we'll find her, you gotta to stay calm. Come on." Michonne gripped Beth's hand firmly, a sisterly gesture that somehow served to subdue Beth's fears just enough for her not to go into total melt down.

Daryl stormed down the porch steps with an air of ferocity, it was almost intimidating; despite her inner turmoil Beth followed him, into the same field in which he held her the morning that they had found out about Maggie and her father.

Suddenly Daryl's footsteps slowed, he raised his crossbow free hand to indicate to Beth and Michonne that they ought to follow suit.

Blinking through her tears Beth saw what Daryl was indicating towards. A few yards ahead stood a figure, swaying and dishevelled, it was hard to see details in the dimming light of dusk. Beth wasn't sure if the creature was human or a walker, it certainly staggered and stumbled in the way the undead did, but as they gained ground Beth could hear the tell-tale coo'ing of Judith. She would know that sound anywhere. Her breath caught in her throat and she instinctively reached out and fisted her hand in the back of Daryl's shirt, he shot her a look at told her he recognised the sound too.

Cocking his crossbow at the stranger's head Daryl spoke, "Gonna have ta stop you there. Na' I don't know who you are or whut you want but I urge you not do do anythin' stupid." The stranger halted dead in his tracks, it was clear that he wasn't a walker now, walkers didn't carry children off into the night, they merely bit them on sight.

There was silence as Daryl considered their next move, the seconds ticked by painfully for Beth who had had to more or less plant her feet to stop herself from running over and snatching Judy back from the anonymous figure.

"Turn around…slowly…" Daryl instructed, keeping his voice level as he had done when trying to negotiate with the Governor.

"…I don't know who you think you got there, but that baby is ours, she ain't yours ta take. 'am real sorry if you lost someone but she needs ta be with us, and I'm gonna have to take her back if you don't give her over." Daryl could feel Beth's trembling hand against his back as he spoke; he hoped to God that his words would sink into this poor creature's skull and that he wouldn't have to use his crossbow on them with Asskicker still cradled in their arms.

Michonne's hand was on her katana as she watched the scene unfold before her.

The figure shivered a little, a tremble seemed to ripple through the bedraggled form in reaction to Daryl's words.

Beth's heart was still very much in her mouth as the figure began to turn and face them.

A bark of a voice rasped in their direction, gravelly and weak but very much there, "That's where you're wrong…she _is_ mine."

All three jaws dropped at the revelation, it took a second or two for them to process who this weather beaten character really was, stood merely metres away from them.

Tears welled anew in Beth's eyes and her grip on Daryl's shirt became decisively tighter as though it were that one leverage point keeping her upright.

Daryl's crossbow dropped down from his shoulder and hung forgotten by his side as he tried to take in what had just happened.

"Rick?!" was the one word Michonne could bite out as her feet pounded towards him, before enveloping him in her arms Judith and all.

Their friend's instinctive display of affection seemed to break the spell on Daryl and Beth who then ran the few steps forward to join Michonne and Rick.

"Shit man, it's you…fuck! We thought you were…" Daryl was suddenly incapable of forming sentences; such was his elation at seeing his lost companion again.

Beth reacted how she always did in situations like these and wrapped her arms tightly around Rick's middle, resting her head on his chest. To her dismay he felt bony, sure none of them had a lot of extra meat on them these days but she could feel his ribs.

Not bothering to unwrap her arms she looked up to Rick who seemed disorientated, his eyes wet with tears of relief but far away all at the same time, "Are you ok? Where's Carl?"

The mention of his boys name seemed to rouse Rick who had so clearly been through so much in the time they had all been separated, "He...he's sick. I had ta leave him to try and get medicine a few days ago, I tried all the pharmacies I know but…he needs antibiotics, the flu's got him real bad…"

Beth removed her arms from around Rick's torso and he began to sway, turns out Beth had pretty much been holding him up, his body had managed to hold on just long enough to get help. Daryl reached out a hand to steady him, effortlessly taking on Rick's weight and ensuring he stayed upright. Beth caught a hold of Judy, as Michonne took Ricks other arm and pulled it over her shoulder to help him walk.

"Let's get him inside, he needs water and food. He's dehydrated, that's why he's so disorientated." Michonne ordered, the gravity of Rick's situation beginning to dawn on her.

"No, Carl…need to get to Carl." Rick mumbled half-conscious sandwiched between Daryl and Michonne.

"We'll get ta him, you tell us where he is and we'll go get 'im. We ain't leavin' no one behind." Daryl assured, his tone gruff as ever but Beth knew his words were meant with tenderness, and so did Rick.

Once inside Brian gathered blankets and pillows, the group did their best to make Rick as comfortable as they could. Rick gave directions to a cabin in the woods where he and Carl had been staying, Daryl patiently noted down a map from the sketchy instructions. His brow furrowed with concern at seeing Rick in such a state, this was a man who could take down a heard of walkers more or less singlehandedly, what the hell had happened to him for him to end up this way?

"Ok man, I'll get him, you know I will, I ain't coming back without him, not while I got breath in my body."

"Me neither…" Michonne interjected, she'd not left Rick's side thus far, she had sat beside him feeding him soup and giving him sips of water here and there, whatever he could manage. Beth had quietly observed wondering if it was her imagination or if she really could see something between the two of them that wasn't there before.

"…I'll come with you, guess I'm gonna have to start going on comic book runs again huh?" She smiled her bravest smile down to Rick who seemed comforted to be amongst friends again.

"With all due respect Michonne…"George ambled in, bringing a few more pillows from his bed for Rick to rest on,"…I think you're needed here, I'll go with Daryl. Seems we make a good team anyways."

At first Michonne looked affronted, she never was one to take orders, not willingly. But looking back at Rick, cheekbones way more pronounced than they should be, cuts and bruises littering his face, she had to admit, it did rather feel like she was needed there.

"You sure 'bout that George, you not forgotten what happened last time you came out wi me?" Daryl cocked an eyebrow, knowing that nearly being burnt alive wouldn't deter his new comrade.

George shrugged,"S'all in a day's work Dixon, come on, let's go get this boy."

As Beth packed a holdall with supplies and cursed herself for being selfish, she really hated the idea that Daryl had to go out _again._ She knew it was necessary and she knew there was no one better equipped to go and get Carl than Daryl but that still didn't allay the nervous churn of her stomach.

"S'matter?" Daryl's question startled her, he had managed to get into the kitchen without her knowing, damn him and his light feet!

"Huh? Me? Nothin', I'm fine!" she smiled faintly not looking up from the bag that she was meticulously filling with jerky, water and most importantly doxycycline for Carl.

She could sense that Daryl had perched himself on the countertop behind her as he always did,"Mmm…you been awful quiet, somethin' botherin' you?"

Beth sighed and left her shoulders drop but still didn't turn to face him, "I just get kinda nervous that's all…" she fiddled with the zipper on the holdall, the packing was done now but still she didn't want to turn around and show her face,"…I just hate it when you have to leave." She mumbled, not wanting her words to betray her tough stance.

Before she knew it strong arms were enveloping her from behind, such were these fleeting moments of affection that they always took her off guard, "I'm not leavin', 'am coming back. I'll always come back." He murmured in to her ear.

Beth's eyes closed as she fought to keep her emotions in check, "You shouldn't say that Daryl."

Cocking his head around to get a better look at her, his stubble grazed her bare shoulder, "Why's that?"

"You're tempting fate; you shouldn't say it, even if you think it. It's like asking for something bad to happen." Beth's voice was low, she knew it was a silly notion and she fully expected his ridicule for believing in such things.

"You know what I reckon?" as Daryl spoke Beth rolled her eyes waiting for his witty retort.

"Fate can go and fuck itself…" Beth couldn't help but feel a delicate half smile spread across her face. Sometimes he was so _Daryl._

Squeezing her into his arms even tighter he concluded,"…ain't nothing going to get in my way of getting back here to you, you understand? Whatever fate's got planed doesn't mean shit to me, I'm coming back."

The conviction in his tone struck her to the core; he really was a force of nature. Words seemed pointless, she was never going to be able to articulate what she felt for him at that moment, anything she tried to convey would fall short. Instead she nodded, and when her eyes went to meet his she realised that his lips were on hers, firm and unwavering, just like him.


End file.
